Ruiner developer Reikon Games lays off half its studio

Reikon Games has reportedly laid out 60 to 70 people, equaling to 56 percent of the company.

According to Kotaku, layoffs at the Ruiner developer happened on 23rd January. These layoffs were to the surprise of his staff, who said they were “sudden” and “shocking”.

The Poland-based company was established in 2014. It went on to release Ruiner, a brutal action shooter, in 2017. In Eurogamer's Ruiner review, contributor Edwin Evans-Thirlwell called it a “powerfully grim, fleet-footed cyberpunk action odyssey that is caught in the spell of its own nihilism”.

The studio has since shared a tease for its next game with a piece of sci-fi inspired artwork. “Piece by piece, implant by implant, everything is being prepared,” Reikon shared in September last year. “Our new game is coming. Are you ready to know more?”

The studio was hiring for available positions at the company as recently as August.

This year has seen multiple other companies announce layoffs, including League of Legends developer Riot Games, Black Forest Games, Unity, Behavior Interactive and Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games.

Just yesterday, Microsoft announced it was laying off 1900 employees across its video game teams. In an email sent around the company, Microsoft's gaming head Phil Spencer called this a “painful decision.”

Meanwhile, earlier this month GDC published its 2024 State of the Game Industry report. Here, it said 35 percent of game developers had been impacted by layoffs in the last 12 months. Additionally, half of those surveyed said they are concerned more job cuts are on the way.