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Waves of layoffs in the gaming industry continue to hit developers and publishers around the world, with Crystal Dynamics — the studio best known for its work as the steward of the legendary action-adventure franchise Tomb Raider — being the latest team to be affected.
The developer announced the news on Wednesday afternoon on LinkedIn, confirming that “a number of our talented colleagues” were let go from the company in response to “evolving business conditions.”
“Today we made the very difficult decision to part ways with a number of our talented colleagues as the result of evolving business conditions,” reads the studio’s post. “This decision was not made lightly. It was necessary, however, to ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market.”
Notably, Crystal Dynamics has vowed to do everything it can to help affected employees in the wake of these layoffs, though it hasn’t publicly mentioned any specific types of aid or compensation.
“To those impacted — we recognize and thank you for your hard work, talent, and passion. We are committed to offering the full extent of support and resources at our disposal during this transition,” it said.
The studio concluded its statement with appreciation for the support offered by its teams, business partners, and players, also noting that the Tomb Raider franchise is supposedly “unaffected” by the cuts.
“To our teams, players, and partners, thank you for your continued support as we build a creative, sustainable, and resilient tomorrow together. This includes the future of Tomb Raider, which remains unaffected by this decision,” reads the end of the notice.
At present, it’s unclear how many Crystal Dynamics workers have been affected by this latest wave of layoffs, or which specific divisions of the studio, if any, have been affected more than others.
It’s the second round of layoffs that the developer has gone through this year, with 17 workers also cut from the company in late March. Then, like now, it commented that the discharges were “necessary,” and came due to a need to “better align our current business needs and the studio’s future success.”
It’s important to highlight that Crystal Dynamics is owned by Embracer Group, a massive Swedish video game holding firm infamous for the large number of layoffs and studio closures that have occurred under its wing.
Much of the company’s troubles in recent years have been attributed to the collapse of a critical $2 billion deal in 2022 that the firm was banking on, leading to share prices dropping by 40% in the aftermath.
The developer is currently working on an untitled Tomb Raider game published by Amazon Games. It was also collaborating with Xbox studio The Initiative on the Perfect Dark reboot, though the partnership ended when Microsoft shuttered The Initiative and the Perfect Dark project in July.
When will the bleeding stop?
These new cuts at Crystal Dynamics are yet another instance of the layoffs that have swept through the gaming industry throughout the last several years, with roughly 40,000 developers in total affected.
From Microsoft and Xbox, to Metal Gear Solid Delta’s Virtuos Games, to Little Nightmares’ Supermassive Games, to Destiny 2’s Bungie, to Marvel Rivals’ NetEase Games, these cuts have absolutely ravaged the industry, leaving thousands of hard-working developers out of work.
The layoffs themselves have been largely attributed to overinvestment in gaming during the pandemic, with inflated interest in the industry lowering once stay-at-home mandates were lifted and daily life returned to normalcy. Wider global economic shifts are also a factor, as are rising game development costs.
Though there’s hope for a recovery in the near future, it’s always harrowing to be met with the news of layoffs like these again and again, and frustrating to have to write this type of headline again and again, as well. For the sake of the people behind the creation of the games we love, I can only sincerely hope that the industry levels out as soon as it can.
My heart, and the heart of everyone here at Windows Central, goes out to any and all developers affected by these layoffs and any others.
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