Virtuos, Leading Codev Company, Announces Layoffs

Virtuos, that big player in co-development, is letting go of a bunch of folks. Yeah, I know, it’s tough out there. I stumbled across this tidbit from a French journo, Gauthier Andres, over on BlueSky—not sure why I was even scrolling there, but hey, life. Anyway, Virtuos is trimming down by about seven percent—like 300 people. Ouch.

So, Virtuos confirmed it later. They’re waving goodbye to 200 people in Asia, another 70 in Europe, and a few, like maybe ten-ish, in France. Why, you ask? They’re saying it’s to jive with the whole evolving partner thing and meet industry demands. Sounds like jargon, right? But that’s what they’re sticking to.

They were all, “As games get more complicated, we gotta tweak how we operate to improve high-end co-development stuff,” or something along those lines. They’re talking game engineering, snazzy art, and live services. My head spins just thinking about it!

The good news—well, sort of—is that the affected folks aren’t getting just a handshake. There’s severance pay, job-hunting help, and maybe—even a new gig within their global network. I guess that’s something, right?

Virtuos, in case you didn’t know, did The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. Was that this year? Feels like forever ago. Oh, and they’re cooking up the new Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. They’ve also dabbled in games like Dune: Awakening, Cyberpunk 2077, and Sea of Thieves. Quite the lineup, honestly.

But yeah, layoffs. They’ve been happening a lot. Microsoft just had round four in 18 months. It’s a recurring thing, apparently. Crazy times we’re in, huh?