Lost Boys Interactive appears to be the latest developer to suffer heavy layoffs.
Lost Boys, which was founded in 2017, is a support studio which has worked withGearboxon a number of projects includingBorderlands 3and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
In 2022 the studio was acquired by Gearbox (which in turn is owned byEmbracer Group), and saw its staff grow to over 400 people following the acquisition.
However, as reported byAftermath, the studio was hit on Friday with numerous layoffs.
Although it’s not yet clear exactly how many employees have been laid off, former studio producer Jared Pace posted on LinkedIn that it had been “a sizable portion”, including himself.
“Still trying to understand the scope of it all,” he added, “but sadly this is a song and dance we’re all familiar with.”
Embracer announced in June 2023 that it wasimplementing a restructuring programmewhich would involve the closure of studios, layoffs and the cancellation of some projects.
It has since shut studios likeSaints Row developer Volition, Campfire Cabal andFree Radical Design, while others have reportedlybeen put up for sale, such asBorderlandsmaker Gearbox.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Lost Boys Interactive announced today it was letting go of some of its team, including myself.Please reach out if you know of someone in need of a producer or really any position. Looks like many disciplines and XP levels were affected.
During its second financial quarter ending in September 2023, the company made more than 900 layoffs, with cuts impacting such studios asCrystal Dynamics,Beamdog,Zen StudiosandFishlabs. Last month Embracer also made layoffs atNew World Interactive,3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks.
Job losses across the games industry were widespread in 2023, and don’t appear to be slowing this year.
Companies impacted by layoffs last year includeMedia Molecule,Codemasters,Xbox Game Studios,Epic Games,Sony Interactive Entertainment,CD Projekt,Unity,Ubisoft,Riot Games,Blizzard,BioWare,Striking Distance,Team17,Frontier Developments,Telltale Games,Digital Extremes,AmazonandDigital Bros.
