Lay Off

The previously announced D&D open world roleplaying game in development at Hidden Path Entertainment has now been officially paused by the studio based in Bellevue, Washington.

Reikon Games, the developers behind cyberpunky top-down shooter Ruiner, have reportedly become the latest studio to lay off dozens of staff, with over half of the Polish indie said to have lost their jobs earlier this week.

Microsoft will let go of 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, it said on Thursday, the latest cuts in the technology sector that has extended massive layoffs over the past years into 2024.

Update: This story has now been updated with a response from a Microsoft spokesperson.

Microsoft is laying off 1900 people across its video game teams, including Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox, equating to approximately eight percent of its gaming workforce.

Riot Games have announced that they will shortly lay off "about 530" people, or 11 per cent of their global workforce, so as to "create focus and move us towards a more sustainable future", in the words of CEO Dylan Jadeja. The "biggest impact" will be felt outside of core development, though they'll affect at least one major internal team - the developers of Legends Of Runeterra. Riot are also binning off the Riot Forge publishing label, under which third-party developers create smaller-scale games based on Riot's own intellectual properties.

Riot Games has announced plans to lay off 530 of their employees, or about 11 % of their workforce.

Tencent Holdings' Riot Games plans to lay off 530 employees, or about 11 percent of its staff globally, the online gaming company said on Monday in a blog that included a letter to employees from CEO Dylan Jadeja.

CI Games, the Polish game developer and publisher associated with the Lords of the Fallen and Sniper: Ghost Warrior games, is planning to lay off around 10% of its staff.

Thunderful Group, the company behind games like 2023's SteamWorld Build and Lego Brick Tales, has announced plans to lay off roughly 20 percent of its workforce, as first reported by GamesIndustry.biz. Kotaku notes that 20 percent of the company's workforce is about 100 employees. As for why, Thunderful CEO Martin Walfisz cites the company's need to reduce costs. 

Thunderful Group, a Swedish video game holding company that owns a number of game publishers and developers as well as gaming and toy distribution companies, has announced that it plans to lay off around 20% of its staff as it restructures its operations. 

Swedish video game holding company Thunderful Group has announced plans to lay off a fifth of its staff.

Amazon-owned Twitch have announced that they will lay off "just over 500" people - almost 35% of their workforce - in the course of on-going plans to "rightsize our company", with CEO Dan Clancy conceding that the streaming service has been operating based on "where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we're at today."

Last year was one of the best years for game releases but easily one of the worst for the people who made them, with more than 10,000 workers laid off by various companies, including Microsoft, Epic Games, BioWare, Bungie, Naughty Dog, and many more. Unfortunately, it seems this heartbreaking trend is continuing into this new year as yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Amazon-owned streaming company Twitch is set to lay off 500 employees, or about 35 percent of its staff. 

Video game engine creator Unity is laying off 1800 employees, or 25% of its workforce, according to a report from Yahoo! Finance. The company announced these layoffs in an internal memo sent out on Monday, January 8. These job cuts follow a turbulent 2023 for the company after it attempted to introduce per-install fees to developers using its game engine before later walking it back. 

Streaming giant Twitch is set to lay off around 500 members of staff this week according to a new report.

Just a day after Unity announced it would be laying off 1,800 employees as part of an ongoing «company reset», it's being reported that live-streaming site Twitch is now poised to cut 35 percent of its workforce — equalling around 500 jobs — later this week.

Just a few weeks after its most recent round of layoffs, Unity is once again reducing its workforce. This time, around 1,800 employees will lose their job in the coming weeks as the company is trying to improve its financial performance after a difficult year.

Unity is starting the new year with a sizeable round of layoffs. According to Reuters, the company plans to ax 25% of its workforce, about 1,800 employees.

Unity has announced it intends to lay off approximately 1,800 employees, or around 25% of its workforce.

Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread creators Bossa Studios have laid off around a third of their staff, with 19 people departing the London, UK-based independent in December due to what co-founder Henrique Olifiers has called "a perfect storm of events" - heavy competition from blockbuster games at the backend of last year, increased operating costs, and delayed funding decisions across the industry.

Walt Disney Animation’s newest movie, Wish, is the culmination of the studio’s celebration of its own centennial. That project stretched throughout 2023, through projects like the short Once Upon a Studio, specialized merchandise drops centered around each decade the company has been around, and the rebrand of the iconic Disney castle logo. But Wish leans so hard on celebrating the better Disney films that came before it that it doesn’t have much identity of its own. It’s openly a nostalgia-fest, pretty much on par with the other ways the company celebrated its 100-year anniversary.

Insurgency developer New World Interactive are the latest Embracer Group-owned studio to lay off staff, as part of the Swedish conglomerate's efforts to reduce their debts after a series of reckless studio acquisitions. It's not clear how many people have been affected, but New World Interactive's direct corporate parent Saber Interactive have revealed that one unannounced project has been cancelled.

Fae Farm and Dauntless developers Phoenix Labs have cut 34 jobs following an internal review. It's a sad end to a busy year for the Canadian studio, who bought their independence back from previous owner Garena in February, and laid off 9 per cent of their workforce in May.

Only two years after acquiring part of Weta's VFX business, Unity is stepping back to focus on its core business.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

The Embracer mass layoffs train has come for Fishlabs, the Hamburg-based studio behind space shooter Chorus. Embracer have laid off more than half the Fishlabs team - "around 50 people" - as part of a restructuring operation that has already seen the Swedish conglomerate cut over 900 jobs across their business over the summer.

Just one day after Amazon Games and 505 Games parent company Digital Bros announced significant cuts at their companies, Humble Games has confirmed that it too has laid off employees, telling Game Developer that the layoffs were required «to ensure our long-term success.»

Digital Bros has just announced that they are laying off 30 % of their employees, as the latest company to follow this unfortunate trend.

Digital Extremes, the developer of Warframe, has laid off more than 30 people and will "cease operations" of its publishing team. As such, Digital Extremes have transferred full ownership of recently launched free-to-play RPG Wayfinder to developers Airship Syndicate and will no longer have any involvement in its operation.

Unity appears set to lay off some of its staff in the coming months.

Digital Extremes, the developer behind multiplayer sci-fi shooter Warframe, has announced a «number of» layoffs at the studio. This comes as a result of plans to close Digital Extremes' publishing division. 

Ubisoft has laid off more than 100 staff, continuing what feels like an unending wave of layoffs across the video games industry. The latest job losses spanning visual effects and IT departments come less than six months after the Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six publisher made dozens of custom service staff redundant.

Looks like Ubisoft is the latest company to lay off a number of employees. The studio confirmed the decision to lay off employees, but added that none are on production teams.

Nascar Rivals developer Motorsport Games has cut around 38 jobs in a recent round of layoffs, mostly affecting roles in the UK and Australia.

Destiny 2 maker Bungie is among the latest video game studios to be hit with layoffs. First reported by Bloomberg, the downsizing is part of a wide restructuring across Sony Interactive Entertainment, with no official numbers available yet. Based on social media posts from affected workers, the communications, social media, and publishing departments at the studio were hit the hardest. Sony acquired Bungie in January 2022 in a $3.6 billion (about Rs. 29,973 crore) deal, enabling them to function independently and push forward the former's plans for more live-service games. The studio is also delaying its upcoming titles — a Destiny 2 expansion called The Final Shape and a reboot of Marathon, Bungie's first-person shooter title from 1994.

One of 2023’s most depressing trends is major games studios laying off employees in an increasingly crowded job market. Now Bungie has become the latest PlayStation studio to do so, though the extent of the layoffs is not yet clear.

Hungary-based animation studio Digic has laid off 35 members of staff.

PlayStation first-party studio Media Molecule, which is the team behind Dreams and LittleBigPlanet, is reportedly set to layoff around 20 employees. That's according to a new report from Sports Illustrated's GLHF, which states the news of impending layoffs was revealed during an internal meeting held today at the studio. 

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Recently, we told you that British developer Team17 may experience job losses following the CEO leaving the company. Sadly, it looks as though this may be the case after all, with the studio possibly losing a third of its staff.

UK indie label Team17 is reportedly looking at laying off one-third of its staff.

UK indie label Team17 is reportedly looking at laying off one-third of its staff.

Unreal Engine and Fortnite publisher Epic Games are making an absolutely enormous round of job cuts. As announced by founder and CEO Tim Sweeney in an email to staff today, the company will lay off approximately 830 people, totalling “around 16%” of their workforce, in order to achieve “financial sustainability” following a period of heavy investment and lower-than-hoped returns from Fortnite.

Ascendant Studios, the developers of EA’s first-person-shooter-with-spells Immortals of Aveum, has laid off dozens of staff just weeks after the game’s release.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Summit Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak  here  and learn more about sponsorship opportunities  here . 

Gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) says it will will lay off as many as 350 employees as a result of the tax imposed by the government on online gaming companies. MPL said it was a step taken to "survive", Reuters reported on Tuesday quoting an internal memo.

CD Projekt RED has revealed they will be laying off 100 of their own employees.

CD Projekt has announced plans to lay off nearly 10% of its workforce.

CD Projekt Red has announced that it will be laying off nearly 10% of its staff in the coming months.