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.
17.01.2024 - 15:50 / gamingbolt.com / Martin Walfisz
2023 was sadly the year that saw thousands of jobs in the games industry being cut due to industry-wide layoffs, and unfortunately, that’s continued in the early days of 2024 as well. The latest to join that list is Thunderful Group, the company that publishes and develops the SteamWorld series and owns the likes of Image and Form Games, Rising Star Games, Zoink, Coatsink, Jumpship, and Headup Games.
Thunderful Group has announced that it’s laying off 20% of its workforce. The company’s website says it employs over 500 employees, which would mean about 100 jobs will be cut.
Thunderful is attributing the need for layoffs to several “over-investments” that it made in recent years that it says “have proven unsustainable given the current industry climate, which has resulted in the Group being particularly affected by challenging market conditions.” Going forward, the company will “focus its efforts on the strategic assets with the best long-term prospects.”
“Since I joined as CEO in the fall of 2023, we have evaluated the current business and the future position of Thunderful,” said Thunderful Group CEO Martin Walfisz said in a statement. “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. 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. It has been difficult to make these decisions, and it saddens me that we will have to say goodbye to many skilled colleagues and partners. Nevertheless, I am convinced that this is a necessary direction for Thunderful and that these changes will make the company a stronger player in the market.”
Thunderful is hoping that its restructuring program will allow it to “strengthen” its “long-term competitive position”. In addition to staff reductions, as part of its restructuring program, the company will also look into divesting “non-strategic” assets.
Earlier this month, game engine developer Unity announced that it was also laying off 25% of its staff, amounting to roughly 1,800 jobs. More recently, Gearbox Entertainment-owned Lost Boys Interactive also laid off “a sizeable portion” of its workforce amidst widespread layoffs across parent company Embracer Group. Other companies like Discord and Twitch have also already made significant staff reductions in 2024.
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.
Reikon Games has reportedly laid off 60 to 70 people, equating to 56 percent of the company.
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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.
According to reporting from Kotaku, Black Forest Games has announced the termination of 50% of its overall workforce, which was said to be around 110 employees in 2023. They join a growing list of layoffs experienced in the industry, which continues to accelerate from last year.
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.
Microsoft has laid off 1,900 employees from its gaming division—mainly roles at Activision Blizzard King, but also some at Xbox and ZeniMax Media.
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 announced another big round of layoffs for the second year in a row. This time around, the studio mainly known for the League of Legends franchise plans to remove 11% of its large workforce. Around 530 employees will lose their jobs, although they will get benefits such as six months of severance pay at minimum, cash bonuses, and others.
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.