Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro is laying off 1,100 employees.
28.11.2023 - 15:55 / videogameschronicle.com / Lars Wingefors / Lays Off
Veteran German game developer Fishlabs is the latest Embracer-owned studio to suffer layoffs, VGC understands.
On Tuesday, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors told staff that around 50 people at the Hamburg-based studio will be laid off, sources told VGC, with the exec claiming a “lack of approval and financing” for an in-development project left it with “no other choice”.
VGC has requested comment from Plaion and Embracer.
According to LinkedIn, Fishlabs was comprised of around 120 people. Many of its employees posted on the platform on Tuesday, confirming they’d been made redundant.
“Due to my third project cancellation this year, and yet another Embracer mass layoffs at Fishlabs, I am looking for a new position,” wrote one designer.
“I was hoping for the best, but expecting the worst,” wrote an artist. “A lot of people and friends are/were affected over the last months despite our efforts to produce an amazing experience for the players.”
Founded in 2004, Fishlabs is best known for 2021’s space combat game Chorus, as well as the Galaxy of Fire series on mobile.
Most recently, it worked on Nintendo Switch ports of Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row 4, and the Xbox port of Valheim.
For the past six months Embracer has been carrying out a “restructuring program” which has already seen some game studios closed and some projects cancelled.
This includes the closure of studios like Saints Row developer Volition and Campfire Cabal, while others have reportedly been put up for sale, such as Borderlands maker Gearbox.
VGC reported earlier this month that Free Radical is at threat of being closed by owner Embracer Group, just two years after it was established.
Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro is laying off 1,100 employees.
One more grim notch for the 2023 games industry meat grinder. Australian indie studio League of Geeks is laying off over half its staff and pausing development «indefinitely» on early access starship management game Jumplight Odyssey.
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.
Saber Interactive, a division of Embracer Group, has confirmed that it has laid off employees at its New World Interactive studio, the developer of Insurgency: Sandstorm.
Electronic Arts has implemented a round of layoffs at F1 developer Codemasters.
The latest studio to be affected by Embracer's «comprehensive restructuring programme» is Insurgency and Day of Infamy developer New World Interactive.
Phoenix Labs, the developer behind recent indie success Fae Farm, has laid off 34 staff.
Phoenix Labs this week had its second round of layoffs this year, as reported by a number of now-former employees on LinkedIn.
There's more bad news out of struggling gaming conglomerate Embracer: The company has confirmed that approximately 50 employees are being laid off from Chorus developer Fishlabs, and is also reportedly looking at closing TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design completely.
Unity has reportedly shed more jobs, as the company has laid off 265 workers today as part of a «company reset.» The move also terminates the partnership that Unity had been in with Weta FX, though crucially, Unity retains its ownership of the Weta Digital tools it purchased back in 2021.
German developer Fishlabs is the latest Embracer outfit to experience job cuts.
Around 50 job cuts are expected to be made at German studio Fishlabs, as Embracer Group’s restructuring program continues.