Lower than every week after Crystal Dynamics laid off 17 staff “to raised align our present enterprise wants,” Eidos Montreal has introduced that it is letting go of “as much as 75” staff, saying it does not presently have enough work to justify protecting them round.
“As we speak, we knowledgeable our studio workers that we’re going to let go as much as 75 invaluable members, as certainly one of our mandates is coming to an finish,” the studio mentioned in a message posted to X. “It’s not a mirrored image of their dedication or expertise, however sadly, we don’t have the capability to completely reallocate them to our different ongoing tasks and companies. These very gifted, extremely skilled specialists are going to enter the employment market, and we’re working to help them by way of this transition.”
It is fairly a turnaround from only a couple years in the past, when Eidos Montreal was reportedly working as a help studio on the brand new Fable in addition to a “lately rescoped” new property and, lastly, a brand new Deus Ex sport that was at that time “very very early” in improvement.
However that seeming excellent news did not final: Eidos Montreal, together with Crystal Dynamics and Sq. Enix Montreal, had been acquired by Embracer in August 2022, however Embracer hit an iceberg lower than a 12 months later when a $2 billion funding deal, later revealed to be with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Video games Group, fell by way of. The studio did not escape the fallout from Embracer’s drawn out implosion, shedding 97 individuals in January 2024 and cancelling the brand new Deus Ex challenge.
That is what makes the Crystal Dynamics layoffs final week particularly notable: It too is an Embracer studio, and whereas Embracer mentioned in March 2024 that its restructuring course of was coming to an finish, 2024 noticed the closure of Items Interactive and reported shutdown of Piranha Bytes, in addition to layoffs at Misplaced Boys Interactive and Cryptic Studios. Kicking off 2025 with much more layoffs at extra studios may very well be an indication that, restructuring or not, the corporate is not performed making cuts.
Eidos Montreal mentioned in its layoff message that it stays “dedicated to ship its different tasks presently in improvement.” I’ve reached out to Eidos Montreal and Embracer for remark and can replace if I obtain a reply.
