Compulsion Games that is among Xbox studios under fire, now allowed people to find new job before the mass layoffs.

They are also the creators of We Happy Few that I liked a lot but somehow can't recommend widely.

#LayOffs@GameDEV
#XBOX@GameDEV

Keyword was always a very hard place to fit: tight budgets and limited time are synonyms of production houses. It wa rather surprising that they were still active in such an expensive area.

#LayOffs@GameDEV

Undead Labs (State of Decay) is also set for sale or closure, apparently. The workers of XBOX are unionized in many cases but it seemingly not helping much.

At the least, hundreds of jobs are at stake. Double Fine Productions could lose 100 jobs if it is shut down. Undead Labs could lose 110 jobs. Compulsion could lose 90 jobs, and Ninja Theory could lose 135 jobs. All told, that’s about 435 jobs that could be lost.

It's expected that the total number across XBOX will be over 1000 people this time in addition to thousands fired in the last couple of years.

#XBOX@GameDEV
#Microsoft@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

Wait, do Asha plan to shut XBOX down or what? (the shot from The Verge)

#XBOX@GameDEV
#Microsoft@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

Let me guess, starts with Micro ends with soft? (via)

#IOInteractive@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

• 1600 jobs are gone today
• 1600 more will follow soon
• Ninja Theory is sold (Senua)
• Undead Labs sold (State of Decay)
• Double Fine goes indie
• Compulsion Games goes indie
• Some of their IPs will be shared
• France blocked Arkane closure
• It is under "consultation" = soon
• More studios will be closed too
• Major cuts across XBOX
• Big cuts in ZeniMax (Bethesda)

• King and Mojang report directly to Asha now (the biggest cash cows)

#XBOX@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

We are halfway through 2026

#LayOffs@GameDEV

And somehow they still have to make more Doom games with half of the team 🫡

#XBOX@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

Imagine bringing a commercial success to your company only to be fired right away 😑

#Ubisoft@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

Somewhat fewer bits left (via)

#LayOffs@GameDEV

1047 Games, the studio behind Splitgate and Empulse is firing a significant but undisclosed amount of people (again).

They already laid off 45 people (28% of staff) last year when Splitgate 2 failed commercially. Now Empulse ("inspired by Titanfall") found no players and therefore no revenue to keep the company up.

#LayOffs@GameDEV
#Multiplayer@GameDEV

A logo of the strike from the Ubisoft Barcelona union: this office developed all underwater missions of the Black Flag remake and then 50 of them were fired.

#Ubisoft@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

ZA/UM fired over 30 people due to commercial failure of their recent game Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. The feedback was positive but the sales are far from Disco Elysium.

A lot of the original fans were suspicious due to legal battles over the studio and weren't rushing to buy a new project upon release. But the game sold at least 50 000 copies for $40 in less than three months = $1.5-2m gross revenue. What numbers did they expect?

#LayOffs@GameDEV

The studio behind a fairly good boomer horror shooter Crisol apparently closed a few months after the release 😑

The game was affordable, reception is good, but sales are still mediocre. Sadly, I haven't even heard of this game before.

According to the ex-employee, the studio is long gone but the publisher is still doing some minimal social media support, so a lot of people mistakenly addressed questions to him and his colleagues.

#Horror@GameDEV
#IndieGames@GameDEV
#Blumhouse@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

The last game of Warren Spector (the father of immersive sim genre) will not get content updates and instead will become Peer-2-Peer to avoid servers.

The studio fired over 35 people, less than 10 of employees remain in the office, and their destiny is also fairly unpredictable. So the team want the game to remain accessible regardless of the outcome.

#ImmersiveSim@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

FIFA used to make billions on EA, then asked to triple the licensing fee. EA refused and is still making the most successful football game under EA FC brand.

In the meantime, FIFA promised a huge diversity, making NFT scam, Netflix exclusives, and such. The Netflix game failed so hard that the team behind it was laid off. And Refactor Games has been effectively shut down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXNLoqxBK4
#LayOffs@GameDEV
#Sports@GameDEV

It didn't take long... (via)

#EA@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

So, Directive 8020 didn't work out, dozens of developers will lose their jobs... (via)

#LayOffs@GameDEV

Crytek fired dozens more yet again (mostly among QA) and in this case I'm not surprised: they are independent and their last full release is Hunt Showdown (2018). Last collaboration Crysis Remastered (2020-21), but Saber Interactive took the big cut.

It's 2026, Crysis 4 is shelved and no games are officially in production. Their own engine has been only used for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.

#Crytek@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV

If Don't Nod will not find funding (after Tencent abandoned them), they will become insolvent in January of 2027. Most likely only a shell will exist to operate previous games.

They already let people go recently which helped to get a few extra months (previously they estimated the end date as November of 2026).

Vampyr, Banishers, Jusant, Lost Records, and Aphelion failed commercially. Overall the first signs of the downfall appeared back in 2024 when they halted public trading via request to the EU financial commission.

Unlike Crytek above, DN always kept making games from small indie projects to huge worlds like Banishers. They also kept pushing industry forward with the first PBR game (Remember me) up to the unique lighting in Jusant.

#DontNod@GameDEV
#Tencent@GameDEV
#LayOffs@GameDEV