The string of job cuts in the gaming industry continues after Avalanche Studios Group, the developers of the game franchise "Just Cause," announced Monday (Jun. 3) that they would be closing two of their studios and laying off 50 of their staff.
According to the company's statement, it would close its New York and Montreal studios and make 9% of its workforce redundant, calling it an "exceptionally difficult" but "necessary" decision to keep the company afloat.
It could be recalled that layoffs and shutdowns of gaming studios began as early as 2023.
The most recent layoffs were announced last month after Take-Two Interactive shuttered Seattle-based Intercept Games, the developers of Kerbal Space Program 2, as part of its sweeping cuts. The reactions to the announcement were overwhelmingly adverse after Take-Two had not said anything about the game in its latest earnings call.
PC Gamer added that "Dauntless" developer Phoenix Labs laid off "many" of its employees and canceled work on unannounced projects in what the studio said was its "last resort" to keep Phoenix Labs solvent.
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Avalanche's Canada Studio Lasted Only 8 Months
Avalanche was created in Sweden over twenty years ago and has since expanded to five locations, the other three being its Stockholm headquarters, Malmo, and Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
Game Developer reported that its Canadian studios in Montreal only lasted eight months after Avalanche acquired and integrated Monster Closet's development team, themselves Ubisoft veterans, into the company's hierarchy.
The Montreal team was also supposed to be "joining the development of current and future [intellectual properties]," but Monday's announcement categorically scrapped the prospect for such.
Before its Montreal expansion, Avalanche entered into a two-year collective bargaining agreement with its Swedish employees after around 100 sought to unionize. The contract would apply to all Sweden-based employees and standardize their salary and benefit frameworks.
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