Spotted by Twitter userTimur222and reported byGame World Observerit appears that the latest to be affected by layoffs within Embracer Group and the video game industry in general are Cryptic Studios and Zen Studios.
The news has come as a result ofmultipleemployeeswithin the studios updating their Linkedin profiles to seek new employment opportunities. Because of this, it’s unknown just how many are affected by these layoffs, which appear to have happened last week, and Embracer has not released a statement to clarify.
Just saw thisLooks like Cryptic Studios was hit with layoffspic.twitter.com/6trys9Pxiw
Cryptic Studios rose to prominence with the development ofCity of Heroes(my favorite MMO) and continues to maintainChampions Online,Star Trek Online, andNeverwinter. Meanwhile,Zen Studiosis the developer behind theZen PinballandPinball FXseries.
The layoffs are part of a continued cost-cutting campaign by Embracer Group. The company had previously launched an aggressive acquisition campaign and bought out a number of developers, large and small. This seems to be related to a $2 Billion dollar investment that reportedly fell throughearlier in the year.
Embracer isn’t the only one conducting layoffs. This year has been horrible when it comes to people losing their jobs, not just in the video game industry but the tech industry in general. The list is a bit long, and it’s really depressing, so I’m just going to copy what Destructoid’s own Eric “Boulder Puncher” Van Allen wrote previously:
“A brief list includesEpic Games,Striking Distance Studios,CD Projekt Red, multiple studios owned byEmbracer GroupincludingBeamdogandCrystal Dynamics,Ubisoft,BioWare,Relic,Riot,Firaxis, andMicrosoft. Plus reports of more atTwitch,Naughty Dog, andTeam17. On top of all that, there was also the shutdown ofDang!,PixelOpus,Vanpool, andVolition Games.”
