Phoenix Labs, the developer behind recent indie success Fae Farm, has laid off 34 staff.
15.11.2023 - 03:21 / gamespot.com / George Yang / Lays Off
30% of staff have been affected.
By George Yang on
Digital Bros, the company behind publisher 505 Games, has laid off 30% of its staff. 505 Games is best known for publishing games such as Control, Ghostrunner and its sequel, Abzu, and the PC version of Death Stranding.
In a press release, Digital Bros confirmed the layoffs, saying, «In order to prioritize high-quality and long-standing successful titles, Digital Bros has reconsidered the number of projects under development and as such, will review the organization structure accordingly to align with the evolving competitive environment in the medium to long-term to ensure maximum operational efficiency.»
The company continued, «The restructuring program is expected to represent a reduction of approximately 30% of the global workforce, with the predominant portion concentrated within the studios.»
Digital Bros mentioned that the video game industry has evolved since the pandemic in that consumers have been more selective with new games, as well as going back to well-established franchises and playing the same games for longer periods of time. As such, the company will focus on releasing sequels and new versions of already successful games, with only a limited budget for new larger projects.
The video game industry has been crushed by layoffs this year. Just yesterday, Amazon Games laid off 180 employees. Other big publishers such as Bungie, BioWare, and Ubisoft have also let employees go.
The latest title from 505 Games is Ghostrunner 2, which was released last month. 505 Games is also publishing Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes and it is due out on April 23, 2024.
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Phoenix Labs, the developer behind recent indie success Fae Farm, has laid off 34 staff.
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505 Games parent company Digital Bros have announced - you guessed it - a round of mass layoffs. Following in the wake of Microsoft, Epic, CD Projekt, Sony and, well, take your pick, the company aim to cut roughly 30% of their workforce to shore up profits. The specific reasoning here is that Digital Bros think that people aren't interested in playing original new games; they'd rather get to grips with fictions and franchises they know and love already. As such, the company plan to "limit" their big budget projects in future, though no specific cancellations have been announced.
Digital Bros Group, the parent company to publisher 505 Games, has announced plans to lay off 30 percent of its staff. It says it is doing so to align with «the new competitive market.» 505 Games is the publisher behind games like Ghostrunner 2, Control, Payday 2, the PC version of Death Stranding, and more; it's unclear how much of that team will be affected by Digital Bros' overall plan.
Digital Bros has just announced that they are laying off 30 % of their employees, as the latest company to follow this unfortunate trend.
Digital Bros, the parent company of 505 Games and a number of other gaming subsidiaries, has announced an «organisational review» that'll see it lay off approximately 30% of its workforce.
The videogame industry continues to be plagued by layoffs as 505 Games parent company Digital Bros has announced plans to eliminate roughly 30% of its total workforce. The company said the cuts are necessary because, simply put, gamers prefer sequels and remakes to brand-new games, and so that's what it's going to focus on.
Digital Bros Group, perhaps best-known in the video game industry as the owner of publisher 505 Games, which is behind the likes of Control: Ultimate Edition and Death Stranding PC, is laying off a whopping 30% of its global workforce and doubling down on sequels because that seems to be what the industry wants.