Digital Bros, the Italy-based company behind publisher 505 Games and a range of smaller development studios, has announced it will cut around 30% of its employees following an “organisational review” of its business. It’s believed the planned restructure will impact staff around the globe, in publishing and development.
According to a press release, the move has been initiated due to the changing nature of the global games industry, and particularly, changing customer behaviour. Digital Bros believes the habits of video game players have shifted drastically since the start of the pandemic, with many choosing to purchase titles related to “well established” intellectual property (IP) rather than taking a chance on more niche games.
“The videogame market has evolved since the pandemic to be more selective in terms of new games, with consumers increasingly reverting to well established Intellectual Properties and playing these same games for longer periods,” Digital Bros said.
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“Digital Bros’ strategy has had to adapt to this new and evolving competitive scenario and will focus its efforts moving forward on the release of sequels and new versions of previously successful and established games, with a limited number of new larger budgets productions.”
“In order to prioritise high-quality and long-standing successful titles, Digital Bros has reconsidered the number of projects under development and as such, will review the organisation structure accordingly to align with the evolving competitive environment in the medium to long-term to ensure maximum operational efficiency … The restructuring program is expected to represent a reduction of approximately 30% of the global workforce, with the predominant portion concentrated within the studios.”
Digital Bros’ owned studios currently include DR Studios, Kunos Simulazioni (Assetto Corsa), Avantgarden, and the Melbourne-based Infinity Plus Two (Puzzle Quest 3).
In announcing its layoffs, Digital Bros has become just the latest global games company to initiate major job cuts amidst financial turmoil. So far in 2023, companies including Ubisoft, Media Molecule, Blizzard, Team17, EA, CD Projekt Red, Riot Games, Amazon, Ascendant Studios, Private Division, 2K, Volition, Firaxis, Telltale Games, Crystal Dynamics, Digital Extremes and Epic Games have all publicly announced layoffs, amounting to more than 6,000 industry job losses.
