Virtuos, the studio that developed , is reportedly laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 300 employees, according to Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at .The studio has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia.The brunt of the layoffs are happening to Virtuos employees in China, where Andres reports that around 200 positions are being eliminated.Virtuos' teams in France, who were primarily responsible for the surprise release of back in April, are also expected to be impacted.Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming and several ongoing live service games, like and .
Nothing about the company's output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry.Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn't enough.Virtuos' layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July.Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare's long-in-development and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative.
Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner.
