A significant number of game developers are unsure about the long-term sustainability of the live-service monetization model, according to a recent survey. Generally, live-service games are those that receive continual updates after launch, often divided into seasons or chapters, and are usually accompanied by a monetization scheme like battle passes. The goal is to keep players engaged and continuously playing the game and spending money, and the model has proven extremely lucrative for developers.
Sega Announces Layoffs, Sells Off Warhammer Developer Relic Entertainment
28.03.2024 - 14:27 / gamerant.com / Pam K Ferdinand
Sega has announced that three companies under its umbrella are facing layoffs, and it has also sold Relic Entertainment, the well-known developer behind multiple successful franchises. Since its founding in 1997, Relic Entertainment has released several popular games, including four Warhammer 40,000 titles, Company of Heroes and its two sequels, the first two games in the Homeworld series, and Age of Empires 4. The company has earned a reputation in the industry primarily as a skillful developer of real-time strategy games but has dabbled in other genres as well.
In 2013, during the process of filing for bankruptcy, the now-defunct THQ sold Relic Entertainment to Sega for $26.6 million. In the process, Relic’s Homeworld franchise was sold to Gearbox Software and Embracer-owned THQ Nordic acquired the rights to Impossible Creatures, one of the first games released by the developer.
The first rumors that there might be trouble brewing within the studio came in May 2023, when Relic announced that it would be laying off 121 employees in a restructuring. This came at a time when industry-wide issues were beginning to hit multiple game studios, resulting in sweeping layoffs that are still occurring with concerning regularity to this day. Now, Relic has announced that it has been sold by Sega to an unnamed external investor, and the developer will now be operating as an independent studio.
It’s unknown how this may impact Relic in the long run or whether it will be a positive change for the company. However, in its announcement, the studio reassured fans that it would continue to support its titles, including Company of Heroes 3, which launched in February 2023 and is considered by many to be one of the best strategy games currently available. It’s also currently unclear if Relic has begun working on another project after the release of Company of Heroes 3.
Simultaneously to the announcement of the sale of Relic, Sega also confirmed that some of its other subsidiaries are facing layoffs. Namely, 240 jobs will be cut at Sega HARDLight, Sega Europe, and Creative Assembly, the developer of the long-running and extremely successful Total War series of games. Whether the cuts at Creative Assembly are related to discontent among the fan base with its most recent Total War games is unknown, but Sega had already canceled the developer’s multiplayer extraction shooter Hyenas in September 2023.
At the time, in 2023, Sega had cited a tough financial year as the reason behind the layoffs and game cancellations. Similarly, head of Sega Europe Jurgen Post stated in an email on March 28, 2024, that the sale of Relic, the restructuring of other studios, and the resulting job cuts is in response to the “changing economic
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