Indie Publisher Thunderful To Lay Off 20% Of Its Workforce

Thunderful Group, an organization group that features the developer behind SteamWorld Build, and publishers of an enormous variety of indie video games, has introduced a restructuring that can see round 20% off its employees laid off.

2023 was a horrible 12 months for layoffs in the games industry, and fewer than a month in, 2024 is already following an identical development, with main layoffs at each Discord and Twitch within the final week. Simply the newest firm to announce impending layoffs, Thunderful Group is a Swedish firm whose subsidiaries develop, publish, and distribute video games and associated merchandise.

„The [restructuring] program goals at reducing prices and growing concentrate on areas with the perfect future progress and profitability prospects,“ Thunderful’s statement reads. „Actions will embrace each important employees reductions and analysis of divestment of non-strategic belongings.“

The assertion goes on to say that roughly 20% of Thunderful’s workforce shall be impacted, with the corporate reporting that it has near 500 staff throughout 30 subsidiaries.

„The necessity for Thunderful to enact these modifications stems primarily from over-investments made in the previous couple of years,“ the assertion continues, echoing a number of corporations which have lately scaled again after over-investing through the pandemic-led gaming growth. „These investments have confirmed unsustainable given the present trade local weather, which has resulted within the Group being notably affected by difficult market circumstances.“

„It has been tough to make these choices, and it saddens me that we should say goodbye to many expert colleagues and companions,“ CEO Martin Walfisz mentioned in a press release. „Nonetheless, I’m satisfied that this can be a mandatory path for Thunderful and that these modifications will make the corporate a stronger participant available in the market.“