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.
SteamWorld owners Thunderful to fire 20% off staff due to "over-investments made in the last few years"
17.01.2024 - 12:27 / rockpapershotgun.com / Martin Walfisz
A round of videogame company layoffs following a period of "unsustainable" spending? It must be a Wednesday. Swedish conglomerate Thunderful Group AB - whose corporate possessions include Somerville developer Jumpship and several teams working on the SteamWorld games - have announced that they will lay off around 20 percent of their staff as part of a restructuring program that "stems primarily from over-investments made in the last few years".
"The program aims at lowering costs and increasing focus on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects," reads a press release (via Game Developer). "Actions will include both significant staff reductions and evaluation of divestment of non-strategic assets.
"The need for Thunderful to enact these changes stems primarily from over-investments made in the last few years," it continues. "These investments have proven unsustainable given the current industry climate, which has resulted in the Group being particularly affected by challenging market conditions. The new management team and the board of directors have identified the need to restructure the Group and focus its efforts on the strategic assets with the best long-term prospects."
Thunderful's bosses are hoping to make annual cost reductions of between 90 million to 100 million SEK (up to $7.5 million). The company will spend 30 to 40 million SEK (up to $3 million) on the restructuring, and expect the impact to become apparent in the second half of 2024.
There's some accompanying comment from CEO Martin Walfisz, who assumed the role late last year. Thunderful's last non-acting CEO, Brjann Sigurgeirsson, stepped down in August 2022 to focus on game development after the group posted a net loss of SEK 21.8 million ($2.1 million) for the second quarter of 2022, and a net loss of SEK 20.7 million ($2 million) for the first half of the year.
Thunderful Group AB began life as Thunderful AB, founded in December 2017, which merged with Bergsala Holding in December 2019. In the years since, the company have acquired Guru Games (Magnetic: Case Closed), Coatsink (Astronimo), Station Interactive (SteamWorld), Headup Games (Bridge Constructor), new indie To The Sky, Stage Clear Studios (The Last Kids On Earth And The Staff Of Doom), Early Morning Studio (Vampire's Fall: Origins), and finally Jumpship in November 2022. Following Jumpship's acquisition, Thunderful had around 480 people on the books.
"To ensure and strengthen the viability of the Group, we have found no alternative other than to reduce costs and focus the business on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects," Walfisz said of today's layoff announcements. "It has been difficult to make these decisions, and it
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