An unannouncedDeus Exgame has reportedly been cancelled, with many of its developers laid off. The layoffs are seemingly part of Embracer Group’s ongoing cost-cutting measures, leaving hundreds of its developers jobless not long after the company started acquiring numerous studios across the gaming industry.
In a report fromBloomberg, anonymous workers at Eidos Interactive say that Embracer has scrapped a new Deus Ex game after two years of development, just as it was set to enter production. The developers also say that numerous workers are being laid off, in what would be the latest in a long list of layoffs at Embracer-owned studios.
These layoffs have since been confirmed by Eidos itself, who has issued a statement. Here, it’s revealed that 97 workers have been let go, affecting development, administration, and support services.
“The global economic context, the challenges of our industry and the comprehensive restructuring announced by Embracer have finally impacted our studio,” reads the statement. “The difficult decision has been made to let go 97 people from development teams, administration, and support services.
“We are working to support all impacted personnel through this transition. These very talented, highly experienced people are entering the employment market, and we want them to find their next projects and are helping to do so.”
Since failing to close a multibillion-dollar deal, Embracer has laid off staff atCrystal Dynamics, Beamdog,Gearbox, and more. It has also outright shut down various studios, likeVolitionand Free Radical Design. In total, there were almost 1,000 job cuts across Embracer-owned studios in 2023, and with the news coming in from Eidos today, it looks like the layoffs won’t be slowing down in the new year.
These layoffs come after Embracer expanded through numerous high-profile acquisitions in a very short period, which as we’re seeing now, wasn’t at all sustainable. Embracer’s issues have extended to its games too, as one of its most high-profile announcements, a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, has failed to amount to anything. The trailer for it hassince been removed from PlayStation’s social media(Sony said this was over music licencing concerns), and Embracer hasconsistently dodged questionson the state of the game.
With all of these issues combined, Embracer Group has become a very unpopular company within the gaming industry. So far, it’s been left to the developers that make its games to bear the brunt of the executives' management decisions, and there’s no end in sight to all of the job cuts. It’s raised questions on the sustainability of an industry that’s becoming increasingly consolidated, and this will be especially true in this instance, as it comes right off the back ofhuge layoffs at Microsoft, felt across its various subsidiaries.
