Significant layoffs made at Sega, Nintendo, and more | The Midweek Memo #012

Hello 👋

Sigh. It's the return of the dreaded layoffs, and sadly there have been quite a few reports of them over the past week.

Sega has begun to reduce its workforce in Europe, Nintendo has cut many contractor positions in the US, and Smilegate's Barcelona studio has closed its doors completely, with all employees let go. Depressingly, that’s only the tip of the iceberg…

If there is any good news to be found in this week’s newsletter, it’s that Embracer Group is finally done with its restructuring program following thousands of layoffs and studio closures. The company has also stated that it will not be acquiring any additional studios anytime soon.

Before we get into more of the negatives, let's take a quick break from the doom and gloom with our weekly selection of “hot” gaming opportunities.

Hot Jobs 🔥

Half of this week's hot jobs are based in Europe, though there are a few worldwide remote opportunities in the mix:

[1] Head of Business Development
🏢 Inworld AI 🇺🇸 Mountain View, CA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 7+ years exp

[2] Game Designer
🏢 Black Kite Games 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Part Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[3] Freelance 3D Artists (multiple)
🏢 Freejam 🇬🇧 Remote UK 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[4] Associate Producer
🏢 Secret Mode 🇬🇧 Royal Leamington Spa 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[5] Assistant Producer - DCL EAUK
🏢 EA 🇬🇧 Guildford 📄 Contract 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[6] Associate Manager, Social Media & Community
🏢 Capcom 🇺🇸 San Francisco, CA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 3+ years exp

[7] Business Development Working Student/Intern
🏢 BeamNG 🇩🇪 Remote Germany 📄 Internship 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[8] Maya 3D Generalist
🏢 Waste Creative 🇬🇧 Remote UK 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[9] Operations Coordinator
🏢 EA 🇨🇦 Toronto, ON 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[10] Brands in Games Project Operations Manager
🏢 Yodo1 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 3+ years exp

Over 100 new jobs have been posted in the last seven days, with many more to come now that our Easter break is over! (We took the liberty of a four-day weekend after a grueling start to 2024.)

Big News 📰

🤑 Borderlands developer Gearbox is being acquired by Take-Two for $460 million

• Embracer Group has announced that Gearbox Entertainment, along with its main development studios, has been sold to Take-Two Interactive for $460 million. The sale includes Gearbox IPs such as Borderlands, Brothers in Arms, Duke Nukem, and others.
  

• Embracer will retain some of Gearbox's former subsidiaries, including Lost Boys Interactive, Cryptic Studios, Captured Dimensions, and Gearbox Publishing San Francisco.
  

• Take-Two and Gearbox have had a strong partnership for more than a decade and a half, with 2K publishing all Borderlands titles.

Other News 🗞️

Before the weekend, Sega announced that 240 employees would be laid off across its European offices “to cut costs”, including those at Creative Assembly, Hardlight, and Sega Europe.

Smilegate, the developer of Crossfire, closed its Barcelona office last week, laying off its entire team. The studio was founded in 2020 and was developing a AAA open-world title for consoles.

Nintendo of America has eliminated 120 contract positions in its testing team, though some people have been converted to full-time employees. Ubisoft, Certain Affinity, and even Gearbox have also made cuts in another hugely depressing week for the industry.

However, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors delivered some good news by confirming that the company's restructuring program has finally ended and that it will not be acquiring any more studios for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, this marks the end of the seemingly never-ending wave of cuts across Embracer and its subsidiaries.

😟 Sega lays off 240 employees in Europe and will sell Relic Entertainment

🇪🇸 Smilegate Barcelona has reportedly shut down and let go of its workforce

😞 Nintendo cuts 120 contractor roles ahead of new console launch

🙌 Embracer CEO says it's "too early" to start discussing potential acquisitions following mass layoffs

Getting Social 📲

On a lighter note, here are two of our top LinkedIn posts from the last seven days. We hope you enjoy them!

All of the positions in this junior-level jobs roundup require just one year of professional experience!

Rockstar, EA, 2K, and other studios have posted varied opportunities all over North America, Europe, Asia, and even remotely around the globe.

While there are never enough of them, early-career roles are probably more common than you’d think. We're constantly posting them on our platform every weekday!

Indie developer Divine Studios has shared an exciting update on its upcoming action-adventure title Project D, revealing its brand new NPC interactions.

Project D (formerly Valorous) combines fantasy, sci-fi, and RPG elements and will feature fast and flashy combat, a Karma system for killing NPCs and police, and even the ability to travel through the multiverse.

We're pretty hyped to see more!

Divine Studios regularly shares new development updates on its YouTube channel, though there is currently no timeline for when we'll be able to get our hands on the game.

Peace ✌️

Well, that was another tough one.

Despite yet more layoffs, we hope you didn't get too down reading the latest edition of our Midweek Memo. The industry is still in a rough patch, but we have faith that things will calm down sooner rather than later.

We're hoping for a more positive newsletter next time, now that we know it's possible from last week's.

Wishing you all the best,

Danny and the gang at Hitmarker 🧡