Humble Games lays off "valued colleagues" as restructuring begins

Humble Games told Game Developer it has laid off an undisclosed number of staff as part of a restructuring plan designed to ensure "long-term success."

"Yesterday was a difficult day for Humble Games and we can confirm that we had to say goodbye to valued colleagues. Like many companies this year, we have experienced trends that required this restructure in order to ensure our long-term success," said a company spokesperson.

"It's especially worth noting that everyone impacted by these changes are talented, dedicated individuals who made a huge impact. Humble Games remains focused and committed to working with amazing indie developers to bring their experiences to players around the world in the years ahead."

Word of the layoffs initially spread on Linkedin, where one person affected by the cuts explained they were just laid off from their position as lead release manager.

Underlining the emotional toll layoffs have on a workforce, they explained the restructuring plan will also hurt those who remain at the company. "When you have one ounce of empathy, you realize the impact of layoffs is on the people who are laid off, of course, but also on the people who are not laid off. And that is indeed a lot of people," they added.

This is the second round of layoffs Humble has sanctioned in two years, with the retailer-turned-publisher cutting multiple ecommerce roles in April 2022.

The latest round of layoffs, however, arrives just a few months after Humble general manager Alan Patmore suggested that studio acquisitions could be part of the company's long-term plan. It's unclear if that's still the case.

2023 Layoffs in the game industry

Humble is the latest in a seemingly never-ending list of companies to have laid off workers this year. Swedish conglomerate Embracer continues to put workers to the sword after spending years funnelling studios into its M&A machine, while other major players like Media Molecule, Bungie, Mediatonic, Striking Distance, Meta, Unity, Epic Games have collectively cut a huge number of jobs in recent months.

As numerous industry commentators have already pointed out, 2023 has been a terrific year for video games but a horrendous one for those who make them.