As initially reported by GamesIndustry.biz, CI Games, the publisher of Sniper Ghost Warrior and Lords of the Fallen from last year, has laid off 10% of its workforce. Although the magazine has subsequently obtained confirmation from CI Games, it claims that its sources indicated that fired employees had posted about the layoffs on LinkedIn.
Given that CI Games is a publisher that also controls companies like Lords of the Fallen developer Hexworks and Sniper Ghost Warrior creator Underdog Studio, it’s presently unclear how many individuals make up the company’s 10% translation department. GamesIndustry.biz was informed by CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński of the following:
“To preserve business strength and stability, CI Games has made the tough but necessary decision to implement a targeted round of redundancies, affecting approximately 10 percent of employees across the company,” Tymiński told GamesIndustry.biz. “We would like to thank each of them for the part they’ve played during their time with us.”
Uncomfortably, Tymiński appears to be hinting at impending layoffs, maybe characterizing job losses as “optimization.” “More business optimizations are being made to the organization’s pipelines and processes,” Tymiński stated to GamesIndustry.biz. These layoffs follow the release by CI Games of Lords of the Fallen, a Soulslike developed by Hexworks that sold over a million copies in less than two weeks, earlier this year. These layoffs follow the release by CI Games of Lords of the Fallen, a Soulslike developed by Hexworks that sold over a million copies in less than two weeks, earlier this year.
2024 began with a new layoff
The depressing round of other 2024 employment losses, which now number over 2,500, includes the layoffs at CI Games. Recently, we found out that Twitch was cutting off 500 workers and Unity will be terminating 1,800 staff by the end of March. Furthermore, Discord disclosed that 170 staff had been let go. Yesterday, Game Informer reported on layoffs at Thunderful Group, a firm that builds Steamworld games, which laid off over 100 employees, and at PTW, a support studio that has worked with companies like Blizzard and Capcom. Game Informer reported earlier today that 45 employees were apparently let off by Behaviour Interactive, the creators of Dead by Daylight.
Over 10,000 workers in the gaming business and related sectors lost their jobs last year.
Ten thousand workers were let go by Microsoft in January of last year as part of its continuing $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, which it eventually finished in October. In August of 2023, Striking Distance Studios, the production company behind The Callisto Protocol from 2022, lay off over thirty workers. The company BioWare, which developed Dragon Age and Mass Effect, let go of fifty workers in the same month, including longtime studio veterans. Ascendant Studios, the creator of Immortals of Aveum, lay off almost 45% of its employees the next month, in September, while Epic Games, the producer of Fortnite, laid off 830 workers.
At least 25 workers were let go by Naughty Dog, the company that developed The Last of Us, and Telltale Games also experienced layoffs in October of last year. The precise number of workers impacted has not yet been disclosed. In late October, Media Molecule, the creator of Dreams, lay off twenty workers.
Such horrifying layoffs will undoubtedly have an impact on the gaming industry for years to come. The employees of Game Informer send their warmest regards to everyone impacted by closures or layoffs.
