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Every Game Company That Witnessed Layoffs in 2025

Gaming industry layoffs in 2025 with logos of major companies. A worried figure sits beside a layoff document. Mood: Concerned.

The gaming industry's rough patch continued through 2025, with layoff numbers remaining painfully high even though they've cooled down from the brutal peak we saw back in 2024.


According to data compiled by Amir Satvat, business development director at Tencent Games, approximately 9,175 people lost their jobs in the games industry this year. While that's definitely a step down from the estimated 15,631 layoffs that rocked 2024, it's still significantly worse than the 8,500 cuts we witnessed in 2022 when this whole crisis kicked off (via GI.biz).


Looking ahead, Satvat's forecast for 2026 predicts another 7,500 layoffs, suggesting we're in for a slow and painful recovery. He's particularly concerned about the geographic distribution of these cuts, noting that open positions in North America and Western Europe will likely continue their downward trend.


I’ve put together a month-by-month breakdown of all the game studios that went through layoffs in 2025:


January 2025

  • Netmarble F&C (20)

  • Jar of Sparks (35~)

  • Splash Damage (150)

  • Freejam (unspecified)

  • Huuuge Games (122~)

  • Counterplay Games (unspecified)

  • Pirahna Games (38)

  • Toadman Interactive (69)

  • Highwire Games (unspecified)

  • Wargaming USA (unspecified)

  • Smilegate NA (unspecified)

  • Phantom Coast (10~)

  • Unchained Entertainment (25~)

  • Reflector Entertainment (unspecified)

  • MachineZone (89)

  • Ubisoft Leamington (50)

  • Ubisoft Reflections, Stockholm (50)

  • Ubisoft Düsseldorf (85)

  • MoonActive (20~)

  • Phoenix Labs (50~)

  • Fast Travel Games (30)

  • Bioware Games (unspecified)

  • Midnight Society (55)


February 2025

  • Sumo Digital Ltd. (unspecified)

  • probablyMonsters (unspecified)

  • Iron Galaxy (66)

  • HiRez Studios (69)

  • 10:10 Games (18~)

  • Unity (unspecified)

  • Crytek (60)

  • Sanzaru Games (unspecified)

  • Bend Studio (25~)

  • Netease Marvel Rivals US Team (10~)

  • Liquid Sword (46)

  • Netflix's Night School (unspecified)

  • Bossa Games (unspecified)

  • Striking Distance Studios (30~)

  • Skeleton Key (unspecified)

  • Soul Assembly (15%)

  • nDreams (unspecified)

  • Monolith Productions (131)

  • Player First Games (70~)

  • WB San Diego (51)

  • SpaceApe Games (30)

  • Azra Games Austin (40~)


March 2025

  • Catness Game Studios (19)

  • PlayStation VASG (unspecified)

  • PlayStation Malaysia (20~)

  • FreeRange Games (unspecified)

  • Ballistic Moon (20~)

  • Box Dragon (5~)

  • Mountaintop Studios (80~)

  • Farm51 (15)

  • Studio Fizbin (25~)

  • Elodie Games (35)

  • MachineZone (97)

  • Niantic Games (68)

  • Crystal Dynamics (17)

  • PLAION (40)

  • Cyan, Inc. (12)

  • Eidos Montreal (75)

  • Striking Distance Studios


April 2025


May 2025

  • Mainframe Industries (17)

  • SuperEvil MegaCorp (20~)

  • Wooga (50)

  • Keywords Studios (11)

  • Uncapped Games (40~)

  • Cliffhanger Games (75~)

  • Playtonic (unspecified)


June 2025

  • People Can Fly (120)

  • Echtra Games (60~)

  • EA Montreal (10)

  • Outplay Entertainment (21)

  • Playtika (160~)

  • Jagex (unspecified)

  • Bend Studio (40~)

  • FreeRange Games (80~)

  • Archetype Entertainment (unspecified)

  • WB Montreal (23)

  • 1047 Games (unspecified)

  • Hypixel Studios (140~)

  • Build A Rocket Boy (300~)

  • Stoic Studio (unspecified)

  • DON'T NOD Montreal (unspecified)

  • Cyan, Inc. (unspecified)

  • Versus Game Studio (30)

  • Cobra Mobile (shuts down)

  • The Chinese Room (unspecified)


July 2025

  • Toca Boca (unspecified)

  • King (200)

  • ZeniMax Online (164)

  • Bethesda Softworks (unspecified)

  • Turn10 Studios (70~)

  • The Initiative (50~)

  • Blizzard Entertainment (100~)

  • Halo Studio (unspecified)

  • Raven Software (20)

  • Sledgehammer Games (unspecified)

  • Xbox (unspecified)

  • Black Shamrock (10~)

  • Virtuos Lyon (10~)

  • Virtuos (250)

  • Rare Ltd. (unspecified)

  • Romero Games Ltd. (unspecified)

  • Secret 6 Madrid (42~)

  • RedStorm Entertainment (19)

  • Supermassive (36)

  • 1047 Studios (unspecified)

  • Sandsoft (21)

  • MadApper (unspecified)

  • Aheartfulofgames (28)

  • Thunderful Games (unspecified)


August 2025

  • Bithell Games (11)

  • Nantgames (unspecified)

  • Zenimax Media, Inc (62)

  • Cloud Chamber Studios (80~)

  • RecRoom (170~)

  • Crystal Dynamics (unspecified)

  • Eidos Montreal (unspecified)

  • FunDog Studios (unspecified)


September 2025


October 2025


November 2025

  • Atomhawk Canada (unspecified)

  • Square Enix (150~)

  • Sharkmob (unspecified)

  • Crystal Dynamics (30)

  • Bad Brain Game Studios (unspecified)

  • Fantastic Pixel Castle Studio (25~)

  • Redhill Games (unspecified)

  • Coatsink - Embracer Group (60~)

  • Splash Damage (170~)

  • Eidos Montreal (unspecified)

  • Liverpool studio (31)


December 2025

  • Three Fields Entertainment (unspecified)

  • Outright Games (27)

  • Glowmade (unspecified)


Studios permanently shut down in 2025:

  • Toadman Interactive

  • Freejam

  • Toast Interactive

  • nDreams Studio Orbital

  • nDreams Studio

  • Monolith Productions

  • Player First Games

  • WB Games San Diego

  • Studio Fizbin (Thunderful-owned)

  • Mountaintop Studios (Spectre Divide developer)

  • Echtra Games (Zynga-owned)

  • Cobra Mobile (Dundee-based)

  • The Initiative (Microsoft-owned)

  • Avalanche Studios Group's Liverpool studio

  • Ubisoft Leamington

  • T-Minus Zero Entertainment

  • Fantastic Pixel Castle

  • Bad Brain Game Studios


Microsoft delivered some of the year's biggest blows. After relatively modest January layoffs, they announced a 3% staff cut in May. But July brought the real hammer—an estimated 9,000 people, roughly 4% of Microsoft's entire workforce, got cut in a massive shake-up of their games division. Studios hit included King, Blizzard, Turn 10, Raven Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, and The Initiative, with the latter being completely shuttered.


Sony, Microsoft's console rival, wasn't sitting idle either. They laid off staff at PlayStation support studio Visual Arts and PS Studios Malaysia, plus initiated redundancies at Days Gone maker Bend Studio.


Unity implemented another cutting round in February after shedding around 1,800 jobs in January 2024. Amazon dropped a bombshell in October with an enormous 14,000 layoffs that halted work on MMO New World.


Embracer-owned Crystal Dynamics cut staff across three rounds in March, August, and November before unveiling Tomb Raider: Catalyst at the Game Awards in December, published by Amazon.


Ubisoft made numerous cuts throughout 2025 at Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Reflections, plus the closure of Ubisoft Leamington. Tencent Games executed numerous cuts and divestments across its European portfolio throughout the year.


EA started the year by having Respawn cancel two early-stage incubation projects and cutting developers from Apex Legends and Star Wars: Jedi teams, resulting in approximately 100 layoffs. The same day brought another 200 job losses, mainly hitting EA's Experiences team. A day later, EA paused World Rally Championship series development, leading to Codemasters layoffs.


Take-Two Interactive's cuts became particularly controversial. 2K Games confirmed in August they'd reduced the BioShock 4 development team at California's Cloud Chamber. September brought headcount reductions at Civilization and XCOM developer Firaxis. But the real storm hit in October when the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain accused Rockstar Games of union-busting after dismissing 31 employees allegedly attempting to unionize.


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