UK studio Antimatter Games is set to close this summer

Rising Storm developer Antimatter Games is set to close after its parent company, Enad Global 7 (EG7), announced plans to “close down” the UK studio later this summer (Q3).

In a statement, EG7 said as part of its efforts to achieve “higher predictability and profitability”, it had explored “various strategic options” and “made the decision to limit further investment and move towards closing the study”.

“As a part of EG7’s ongoing efforts to achieve higher predictability and profitability for the Group, the Board of EG7 initiated the process to close down Antimatter Games (AMG) studio after exploring various strategic options,” Enad Global 7 explained in a statement (thanks, PC Gamer).

“A formal process has been started that includes employee consultation to seek mitigating measures and agreement around the process with the UK-based employees. The closure is likely to take place during this summer and is expected to result in an annual cost reduction of approximately SEK 50 million (£3.7m).”

The statement confirmed that development of IGI Origins has “not produced sufficient traction” but stopped short of revealing what would happen to the game.

“Management is continuing its efforts to establish a more sustainable and predictable business. The Group evaluated various strategic options for AMG, including work-for-hire (WFH), studio sale, and third-party publishing partnerships for IGI, the title AMG has been developing over the last few years.However, these efforts have not produced sufficient traction within the Group’s target timeline.As a result, the Board has made the decision to limit further investment and move towards closing the studio.

“EG7 expects one-time, non-recurring costs in the range of SEK 15-25 million (£1.1m – £1.8m) for the studio closure. On a pro forma basis, excluding the impact from one-time costs, the studio closure is expected to reduce the Group’s annual operating expenses by approximately SEK 50 million (£3.7m), resulting in an increase in pre-tax profits by the same amount and also improving the operating cash flows,” the statement continues.

“The impact on the balance sheet is expected to be minimal with the intangible asset write-down for IGI already taken in Q4 2022.

“The process started this week and the expected completion is in Q3 2023.”

This is just the latest studio to have recently shut down or trimmed down its staff. Crypt of the NecroDancer studio Brace Yourself Games recently confirmed it had laid off half its staff, while PlayStation-backed Deviation Games reportedly laid off as many as 90 employees earlier this month.

Ubisoft also recently announced that it would be cutting around 60 positions from its customer services team across the US and UK, and we recently reported that The Molasses Flood, the CD-Projekt-owned studio currently working on The Witcher spin-off Project Sirius, has also been hit by layoffs following the game’s recent reboot.