Video Game And Tech Industry Layoffs Continue As We Move Further Into 2024

The job toll in the video game and tech industries continues to rise as January comes to a close. Three more video game studios have been hit with layoffs this week, including People Can Fly, Black Forest Games, and Reikon Games, affecting approximately 140 employees across all three studios. At least 6,000 employees have now lost their jobs across over a dozen development studios, publishers, and other related companies.

People Can Fly development director Adam Alker confirmed in an internal email that more than 30 employees were being let go, all of whom are currently working on an unannounced game codenamed Project Gemini. The AAA title is being developed in partnership with Square Enix and was originally meant to rival its 2021 co-op shooter, Outriders, in of scale. The studio, however, will be scaling down its single-player campaign in light of the recent job cuts.

Ruiner developer Reikon Games also laid off 60 people, according to former producer Rafał Basaj. The mass layoff was also confirmed by former senior environment 3D artist Aitor Rández in a separate LinkedIn post as well as multiple job hunting posts from affected employees.

THQ Nordic studio Black Forest Games adds to the growing total with 50 job cuts of its own following Embracer Group’s failed $2 billion partnership deal. The studio is currently working on a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game inspired by The Last Ronin limited-run comic series. Piranha Bytes, another Embracer studio and developer of sci-fi fantasy game ELEX, is also reportedly at risk of closing if it can’t develop its next title independently.

People Can Fly, Reikon Games, and Black Forest Games, s the growing list of video game and tech companies that have been hit hard with layoffs over the past year. Also included in the list are Behavior Interactive, Bossa Studios, Campfire Cabal, Free Radical Design, Versus Evil, Volition, CI Games, Riot Games, Unity Technologies, and Microsoft, which recently announced sweeping layoffs to its gaming department, which now includes Activision Blizzard, and the cancellation of Blizzard’s survival game.