Whereas assist studio Virtuos has been engaged on fairly a couple of high-profile titles not too long ago, together with the upcoming Steel Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater, the corporate has seemingly been hit by a spherical of lay-offs. In accordance with Origami’s Gauthier Andres, round 7 p.c of the workforce has been affected, amounting to 300 positions. In a collection of posts on BlueSky, Andres has famous that the first location hit by these lay-offs is China, with round 200 workers being affected there.
In accordance with Andres, Virtuos has been seeking to reposition itself as a assist studio for main tasks which can be a part of huge franchises. Evaluating this positioning to that of Bluepoint, Andres famous that the studio had pushed itself fairly exhausting with its work on The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. The deal for engaged on that recreation reportedly concerned no royalties or bonuses tied to the success of the challenge, in addition to workers being pushed exhausting to over-deliver.
“In February, in the direction of the tip of Oblivion‘s improvement, the corporate introduced a freeze on raises and a discount in group-wide bonuses. Administration had been questioned in regards to the potential danger of layoffs on account of these measures however reassured workers,” famous Andres (translation through Google).
In response to the present lay-offs, Andres has reported that workers at Virtuos Lyon are on strike to protest the lay-offs, in addition to to guard the workplace itself, which is claimed to be at the moment coping with a merger of management. The studio can also be mentioned to be “cautiously and regularly” wanting into using generative AI. “In only one 12 months, we’ve gone from a couple of group-level displays to primary however obligatory coaching classes for workers,” mentioned one supply.
Virtuos itself hasn’t but launched any assertion about these lay-offs. Members of the corporate have, nevertheless, beforehand spoken about optimisation to carry video games to the Nintendo Swap 2, in addition to the success of the current launch of the Swap 2.
INFO : des licenciements de masse sont est cours chez Virtuos, studio derrière Oblivion Remastered et le futur Steel Gear Strong Δ.300 postes (7% de l’effectif) sont à risque chez ce spécialiste de la sous-traitance implanté en Asie, aux USA et en Europe, dont trois antennes en France.🧵 1/10
— Gauthier ‘Gautoz’ Andres (@gautoz.cool) 2025-07-16T14:45:45.778Z
Selon plusieurs sources, ces suppressions viseront d’abord la Chine (200 personnes) mais toucheront de nombreux pôles, dont les studios français, porteurs du récent succès TES IV Oblivion Remastered.Mot d’ordre de l’annonce faite aux équipes il y a quelques semaines : “compétitivité”.2/10
— Gauthier ‘Gautoz’ Andres (@gautoz.cool) 2025-07-16T14:45:45.779Z
