Embracer Planning for More Layoffs

25.01.2024 - 20:09 / gamerant.com / Deus Ex / Eidos Montreal / Niko Balkaran

Black Forest Games, a German video game developer subsidiary of THQ Nordic, which Embracer Group owns, is reportedly planning to lay off around 50% of its employees. Last December, two Danish developers owned by Embracer Group, 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks, announced that over half of their staff would have their roles eliminated. With that announcement, around 1000 people were laid off by Embracer in the second half of 2023. Now, Black Forest Games is seemingly the latest developer to be affected.

Black Forest Games was founded in 2012 before being acquired by THQ Nordic in 2017 and is known across the industry as the developer of the Cold War era alien invasion remakes, Destroy All Humans. More recently, the company announced that it was working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, a darker take on the franchise inspired by Sony Santa Monica’s God of War games.

Now, Kotaku is reporting that Black Forest Games announced to its staff on January 24 that the developer plans to cut around 50% of its workforce, with management promising to provide more information by next week. The article went on to say that a source confirmed that most of Black Forest Game’s upper echelon, including creative directors and managers, would be safe from the layoffs. According to the company’s website, the developers have over 100 employees, with most having more than 20 plus years of experience. Embracer Group, THQ Nordic, and Black Forest Games have yet to issue a statement regarding the layoffs.

In recent years, Embracer Group has been acquiring a number of high-profile studios, including three major ones from Square Enix: Crystal Dynamics, which developed Marvel’s Avengers; Deus Ex developer, Eidos Montreal; and Square Enix Montreal, a mobile game developer. Then, last June, the Swedish holding company announced that it would be restructuring in an effort to reduce a $1.51 million debt, which also meant the cancellations of a number of games, with the fate of some highly-anticipated ones like the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake being unknown.

The video games industry has been hit especially hard with layoffs, with staff from other high-profile developers like Bungie and Rockstar being affected. According to Kotaku’s report, January has already seen a record-breaking number of around 3900 staffers affected, more than half of the total number of game developers laid off last year.