Back in 2016, Ubisoft released its new Tom Clancy shooter, The Division. It was part of a new wave of titles, like Destiny, that combined the online persistence of an MMO with more conventional gameplay: in this case, the tactical cover shooter.
Build a Rocket Boy CEO Mark Gerhard has addressed the end of the developer's publishing agreement with IOI Partners, stating that it "likes being able to control [its] own destiny as an independent studio."
Remember the Xbox 360 era? Back in the 2000s, publishers tended to have heaving release slates, mixing oddball ideas with more established formats. But as development budgets have spiralled in the decades since, with games taking longer and longer to produce, the big publishers' release slates have shrunk dramatically. Ubisoft, for example, published just four games in 2025. In 2000, it published more than 60.
Update, April 1, 2026: Polyarc Games has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that 30 employees were affected by layoffs.
Eidos-Montréal, developer of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, has announced a workforce reduction impacting 124 employees. Studio head David Anfossi has also left the Embracer-owned company.
Ken Kutaragi has been announced as the first keynote speaker for Game Republic New Horizons 2026.
Pixelberry Studios, the developer of the hugely-successful episodic Choices mobile series, has allegedly laid off staff.
A translator formerly employed by Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 studio Warhorse Studios claims he has been "fired and replaced with AI."
The Everquest franchise is one of the industry's true survivors. Launched all the way back in 1999, it was the first MMORPG to enjoy widespread commercial success, and was the defining example of the form until the arrival of World of Warcraft in 2003. The original game and its sequel, both of which switched to free-to-play over ten years ago, retain a player base and continue to receive monthly updates. This year, they will be joined by a sibling: EverQuest Legends, described as an "excavation and preservation project" that seeks to recreate the original experience.
Krafton is shutting down PUBG Blindspot, a free-to-play PC spinoff of its hit PUBG Battlegrounds, after only two months in Early Access. The news comes despite the PUBG franchise powering the firm's best-ever annual revenue, but is in line with its previously stated policy of using Early Access releases to validate games before committing development resources.
A public Google Sheet created to list those affected by Epic's recent cut of over 1,000 jobs has been converted into a searchable database site in an effort to surface available staff to recruiters. The site currently lists 320 people.
Unity has announced that it is shutting down its IronSource advertising/user-acquisition network and planning to divest Supersonic, publisher of mobile games including Bridge Race, Going Balls and Build A Queen. The firm said the process would "simplify the business" and enable it to focus on higher growth segments, including its AI-powered ad network Vector. The news was included in the firm's latest investor update.
After several years in which almost weekly reports of drastic, sweeping layoffs at one company or another have become the depressing norm, we're all fairly accustomed to the pattern in the response. There's a measure of shock – not surprise any more, but still somehow shock because, really, this company, at this moment? – along with a deep well of sympathy for those affected, which we all have to balance against the scramble to understand exactly which parts of the business have been hit and what it might signal for the future.
Sony has announced global price rises for its PlayStation 5 consoles from April 2, 2026, due to "continued pressures in the global economic landscape."
Last year was something of an annus horribilis for Romero Games. Faced with a sudden funding rug pull, the studio has had to downsize dramatically. But it's still hanging in there.
Meta has reportedly cut around 700 roles across several divisions, including its Reality Labs unit.
The German games market grew 4% in 2025 to €9.4 billion, driven by higher console hardware sales, particularly the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.
Ziff Davis, the owner of GamesIndustry.biz parent IGN Entertainment, has agreed a new partnership with European media group eMense to operate IGN France. The firm already operates IGN Benelux, IGN Nordic and IGN Germany under licence from Ziff Davis.
This is a feed of the latest articles from GamesIndustry.biz.
