Humble Games has reportedly laid off all 36 of its staff, a move that seems to signal the end of the company. Former employees posted about the layoffs on social media. Humble Games is owned by media conglomerate Ziff Davis, which counts IGN, Eurogamer and GamesIndustry.biz among its gaming portfolio. Humble Games confirmed in a LinkedIn post that there had been a “restructure” at the company, but did not reveal the number of jobs lost.
The layoffs at Humble Bundle are the latest in a sweep across the gaming business. Last year saw a shocking number of cuts across studios of all sizes, and the trend has sadly continued into 2024.
“The games industry is volatile, it’s been inundated by people who only want exponential growth at the expense of making great games with great teams,” Emilee Kieffer, a former lead quality assurance analyst with Humble Games, wrote on LinkedIn following the layoffs.
Well friends, me and the entirety of Humble Games was laid off this morning
If you need senior/lead QA at your game studio HI HELLO I DON’T HAVE A JOB ANYMOOOORE! pic.twitter.com/giAPAiTDsx
— 🎃Emil-EEK!🎃 (@Emilee3D) July 23, 2024
The indie publisher helped bring almost 50 video games to market, including notable hits such as Slay the Spire, Unpacking, Wandersong and Coral Island. Humble Games also had several upcoming games slated for release, such as Never Alone 2, a second delve into mythology and stories from the indigenous Iñupiat people in Alaska. It’s unclear at this stage how the closure will impact those projects, but it seems they may still be released.
“This decision was not made lightly; it involved much deliberation and careful thought, with the goal of ensuring the stability and support of our developers and ongoing projects,” Humble’s statement said. The company also did not confirm if these layoffs would be followed by the studio’s closure.
This business is a separate operation from the charity storefront Humble Bundle, which is also part of Ziff Davis but does not appear to be impacted by today’s news. We’ve reached out to Ziff Davis and Humble Games for more information and will update if we hear back.