Despite hitting success with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Virtuos is laying off 270 employees. According to reports, Oblivion Remastered sold more copies in the first month than the original release ever did in a year. A statement released by the studio said the cuts were necessary in the face of their changing partner needs.
“Virtuos is evolving to meet the changing needs of our partners and the industry,” the studio wrote. “As game development grows increasingly complex, we are realigning our global footprint and capabilities to strengthen our offering in high-value co-development, ranging from full game engineering to advanced art, including creative content production and live services.”
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“This evolution involves a rebalancing of roles across our studios and geographies. Approximately 7% of Virtuos’ global workforce was affected, primarily in teams facing lower occupancy and slower demand due to structural shifts in the industry. This includes about 200 roles in Asia and 70 roles in Europe, including fewer than 10 in France, where the core team working on Oblivion Remastered is located.”
Virtuos is best known as a co-development and remaster studio. They have contributed to the remaster of various blockbusters or brought them to new platforms. Their latest collaboration was with CD Projekt Red to bring Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition to the Mac App Store.
Virtuos confirmed that it will be “providing separation packages, career transition assistance, and opportunities for redeployment across our global network where possible” to those impacted by the layoff.
The studio also confirmed that the layoffs would not affect already announced collaborations, including Oblivion Remastered, Cyberpunk 2077, and Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater.
“We will continue to invest in global delivery, technical excellence, and creative collaboration, ensuring that Virtuos remains the partner of choice for the world’s leading game creators,” the studio added.
At the time of writing, GameBaba Universe couldn’t spot a post from anyone impacted by the layoff. Keeping with our tradition, we would have linked to their profiles so that anyone with open roles can easily reach out to them.
