Compilation of the list of major game studios that have closed in the past year

The gaming industry continued to hit new revenue heights last year, but game developers couldn’t protect their jobs. Some of the people involved in making the games we love suddenly lose their jobs, go through periods of unfair treatment, and a union-free workplace protects them like the movie industry.

Successful game studios, which create globally beloved titles based on popular works like Marvel, Star Wars, and Batman, suffer the same fate. In its history, EA has closed dozens of game studios it has acquired, including Westwood, Maxis, and Black Box Games.

With Telltales Game’s closure bringing the total number of game studios completely closed over the past 12 months to 10. 275 Telltale employees lost their jobs suddenly and without compensation, however the remaining 25 will “fulfill their obligations” company with management and partners,” Telltale said of its future.

Here are the game studios we lost in the last 12 months, including the number of people who lost their jobs in that game studio (subject to information available)

Motiga

Gigantic Development
75 employees

pic.twitter.com/gQ8ImScBof

— Visceral Games (@VisceralGames) October 17, 2017

Visceral

Developed Dead Space, Battlefield Hardline and an unreleased Star Wars project.
At least 80 members

Telltale Games

Developing The Walking Dead and its multi-chapter series.
275 employees

Boss Key Productions

Development of LawBreakers and Radical Heights
There was a time when 60 employees were at their peak

Runic

The Father of Torghlight and Hob

Carbine

Wildstar’s father

The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency

Drawn to Death development and an unannounced project canceled

Wargaming Seattle (predecessor Gas Powered Games)

Developing Supreme Commander, Dungeon Siege
About 150 employees

Unfortunately Capcom Vancouver shuttered today. I’m in a bit of a shock, but if you know of anyone looking for an 18 year experienced game designer send them my way. Spread the word!

— Aidan Scanlan (@aidanscanlan) September 18, 2018

Capcom Vancouver

Developing Dead Rising
158 employees

Gazillion Entertainment

The Father of Marvel Heroes
About 200 employees

Other notable layoffs over the past year include Big Fish Games, CCP’s VR division, Harmonix, Hangar 13 (Mafia 3), Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die!), Volition (Agents of Mayhem), and Twitch.

While the gaming industry lacks policy support for employees, we still see a culture of solidarity among developers around this issue. Many game studios have posted on social media to make their job listings stand out as #telltalejobs.

A list of 20 former Telltale members hit hard by this cut also appeared online, asking for donations. “One victim of Telltale’s unexpected layoffs that no one knows about is Delmis Luna, who has been cleaning offices for years,” reads a ko-fi.com donation page. “Last week, she lost her main source of income, and her mother just died. It was a bad week. Any financial support, to help feed her child and pay the rent, while she looks for a new job would be greatly appreciated.”