The storm of layoffs that has been hitting the gaming industry continues, as two more studios are forced to downsize, letting several developers go.
The first is virtual reality developer Archiact known for Doom 3 VR Edition, Journey to the Foundation, and Freediver: Triton Town, which made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter).
The studio mentioned that it had to let a number of colleagues go this week. The decision was not taken lightly, and the company is working with those affected to offset the effects of the transition as much as possible.
Archiact also encourages other developers who may be interested in hiring those affected to reach out so that a contact can be established.
The second developer affected is Bossa Studios of Surgeon Simulator, I am Bread, and I am Fish fame, currently working on Lost Skies.
The studio has confirmed to GamesIndustry that “roughly one-third” of its employees have been laid off at the end of last year, leaving 40 developers working at the company.
Co-founder Henrique Olifiers explains that the layoffs were caused by the abundance of AAA that took away the focus from AA and indie games, increasing operational costs, and delayed funding.
As a consequence, the studio was forced to focus its efforts on Lost Skies while reshaping its development structure, triggering the layoffs.
Like Archiact, Bossa is also willing to vouch for the developers who have lost their jobs, in case other companies are willing to hire them.
2023 has been an annus terribilis for the gaming industry in terms of employment, and unfortunately, it appears that we aren’t seeing the end of it yet.
Many other companies like Sony, Bungie, Epic Games, Microsoft, Amazon, Frontier, Team17, on top of many of Embracer’s studios have been affected to various extents, from relatively limited layoffs to full-fledged closures.
