HR / Company news

The Swedish Embracer Group holding continues to close some subsidiaries and reduce staff in others. The list of studios that suffered from the restructuring of the company included Free Radical Design and Fishlabs.

Unity has announced new large-scale cuts. This time the reason was the termination of cooperation with Weta FX, a special effects studio directed by Peter Jackson. A total of 256 people or 3.8% of the total number of Unity employees will remain unemployed.

Publisher Humble Games has joined the list of gaming companies that have carried out layoffs. In a statement to the media, he confirmed that on November 13 he parted with a number of employees.

Digital Bros has announced plans to cut 30% of the staff, or about 130 people. The company decided to change its business strategy and reorganize its publishing divisions and development studios.

Unity has released its financial report for the third quarter ended September 30. The company called its results “mixed”, also outlining growth plans and warning about possible layoffs.

Unity has summed up the financial results of the third quarter of 2023. She said that compared to last year, her revenue increased by 69%. The growth could have been even greater, but in September, after widespread criticism of the new pricing policy of the engine, its revenues decreased slightly.

The Interregional Inspectorate for the Largest Taxpayers No. 7 filed an application to the Arbitration Court against the actions of Denis Kachura, the bankruptcy trustee in the bankruptcy case of Game Insight in Russia. He allegedly included in the register with the employees of the Russian "daughter" of Game Insight, to whom she owed salaries and severance payments, more people than went to court.

Motorsport Games is another gaming company that has decided to carry out mass layoffs. She plans to cut 40% of the staff by the end of the year. This is 38 people.

From January 2024, most Microsoft employees will no longer receive an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for free. This is reported by The Verge with reference to sources.

The Canadian studio Hyper Hippo also took up the cuts. She fired 27% of employees — that's 13 people.

Bungie's layoffs affected 8% of the studio's staff, or about 100 people, according to Bloomberg and IGN sources. According to their information, the cuts took place against the background of serious problems with Destiny 2.

Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote on X (former Twitter) that his studio had indeed cut some of its employees. He stated that this is a sad day for Bungie.

The fact that the Sony-owned Bungie game studio will be affected by a wave of layoffs was reported by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier.

This year may be one game blockbuster richer. The open beta of the cooperative shooter The Finals attracted an audience of 267 thousand people on Steam. This is almost four times more than I was able to collect at the peak on the Overwatch 2 platform.

On the evening of October 26, Ubisoft published a report for the first half of fiscal 2024, which ended on September 30. She reported an increase in most key indicators.

DIGIC Pictures, specializing in cinematics for games, has cut 10% of its employees. This is reported by Forbes Hungary.

The wave of layoffs sweeping the games industry has reached Media Molecule, one of Sony’s most recognized first-party studios. This comes after the team ended live service support for its game creation platform Dreams.

Media Molecule Studio is preparing for large-scale cuts, according to GLHF sources. She plans to lay off 15-20% of 135 employees.

miHoYo decided to build a spacious office, writes the Chinese GameLook portal with reference to the documents of the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Resource Management of Shanghai. On October 18, its subsidiary Shanghai miHoYo Yingtie Technology acquired a plot of land for ¥1.07 billion ($137 million) with the right to use for 50 years.

Several App Store employees in China have been accused of abuse of office, sources tell The Information. According to the publication, they were approached by developers with a request to help with the promotion of games in the store.

The British studio Six to Start has cut half of the developers, Axios reports, citing its CEO and co-founder Adrian Hon. Layoffs affected both full-time and freelance employees.

Two more studios owned by Embracer Group suffered from the restructuring of the holding. This time the layoffs affected the American Cryptic Studios and the Hungarian Zen Studios.

Recruitment agency WN Talents In Games has launched a public vote for achievements in the field of gaming HR. It takes place as part of the annual Game Dev HR Awards.

Roblox management wants employees to return to the office. The CEO of the company, David Baszucki, announced that from next year they will have to come to the office at least three times a week — from Tuesday to Thursday. Those who do not agree will have to look for another job.

The British publisher and developer Frontier Developments is going to reduce the staff. The company decided to revise its business strategy due to financial problems and the difficult situation in the gaming industry.

On October 10, Paradox Interactive reported failed sales of the tactical game The Lamplighters League. After that, the network remembered that in July the company fired some of the employees of Harebrained Schemes, the studio that developed the title.

Restructuring in Team17 may affect more people than previously reported. According to Eurogamer sources, the company is preparing to lay off 91 employees.

The German portal Game Two spoke with 32 former and current employees of Daedalic Entertainment. During the conversation, the developers said that the company has problems with the working culture.

CD Projekt workers have decided to unionize in the wake of several waves of job cuts that happened at the company this year. They joined forces with fellow developers from other Polish companies to improve employment conditions.

Due to problems in the economy, many companies have reduced their staff. According to the Game Industry Layoffs portal, 6,136 game developers lost their jobs in 2023.

Telltale Games has also taken up layoffs. She officially announced that she had cut some of her employees. The reason was "current market conditions".

Recently, seven dismissed BioWare employees sued the company and demanded to increase their severance payments to the statutory ones. In Kotaku's comments, the developers' lawyer stated that BioWare had previously refused them out of fear that it would become a financial burden for her.

Raj Patel, marketing director at the Canadian indie studio Hinterland Games, has calculated how often staff cuts have been announced in gaming companies this year. According to him, this happened almost every week.

Keywords Studios has joined the list of companies that have cut employees. At the end of September, she terminated contracts with specialists who helped BioWare with testing games.

Journalist Zach Bussey (Zach Bussey) in his profile on X (Twitter) reported that Amazon fired some of the Twitch employees.

Seven BioWare veterans have appealed to a Canadian court. They accused the company of "unreasonably mistreatment" during the dismissal.

Naughty Dog has decided to part with some of the employees, Kotaku reports, citing sources. The company will terminate contracts with at least 25 freelance workers.

Team17 is undergoing restructuring, according to Eurogamer sources. As part of it, the company is going to lay off a significant part of its employees, among whom will be CEO Michael Pattison (Michael Pattison).

After Epic Games announced large-scale cuts, rumors about the dismissal of all employees of the Mediatonic studio appeared on the network. However, Epic Games called this information false.

Yesterday, SEGA Corporation announced the restructuring of gaming divisions in Europe, which will affect, in particular, the Creative Assembly. Shortly after, Creative Assembly confirmed that layoffs were planned at the studio.

A letter from the founder and CEO of the company Tim Sweeney (Timothy Sweeney) appeared on the official website of Epic Games. In it, he talked about why the authors of Fortnite and Unreal Engine took up abbreviations.

Bloomberg correspondent Jason Schreier in his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter) said that Epic Games has begun significant cuts.

The Games Fund led the seed round of financing of the young Polish studio Zakazane, founded by people from CD Projekt and 11 bit Studios. He invested $1 million in developers.

Roblox is another gaming company that has reduced staff. According to TechCrunch, last week she fired 30 people from the team to attract talent to the platform.

Hideki Kamiya, Japanese game designer and one of the creators of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, is leaving PlatinumGames. He noted that it “was by no means an easy decision to make.”

The restructuring of Embracer Group affected another subsidiary studio of the Swedish holding. Now layoffs have taken place in Crystal Dynamics, known for the Tomb Raider series of games.

Genshin Impact developer miHoYo has undergone some internal reshuffle. Cai Haoyu, one of the company’s founders and its largest shareholder, recently stepped down as its chairman.

Layoffs in gaming companies continue. This time it became known about the cuts in the Beamdog studio, which released reissues of classic RPGs like Planescape: Torment and two parts of Baldur’s Gate.

Ascendant Studios, which developed the magical shooter Immortals of Aveum, conducted large-scale cuts. She fired almost half of the employees.

The situation around Unity is getting increasingly chaotic. The company reportedly had to close some of its offices after its decision to introduce per-install fees sparked outrage in the gamedev community and beyond.