Virtuos is laying off a total of nearly 300 employees. Among them are a few developers who worked on the successful remaster of Oblivion.
The success of Oblivion Remastered is apparently not enough to keep the development studio Virtuos afloat. Around 270 employees are losing their jobs as part of a restructuring—most of them in Asia, but also a few from the Oblivion team.
Virtuos announced this in a statement. We have the details.
Layoffs due to “structural changes in the industry”
Around 200 people in Asia and 70 in Europe are affected, together accounting for approximately seven percent of the total workforce. Less than ten people were directly involved in Oblivion Remastered, as Virtuos announced in a statementon its own website.
The statement cites changes in the video game industry as the reason for the layoffs, saying that the company must now take these changes into account. The layoffs will primarily affect teams with lower demand and lower utilization rates. Virtuos says it will support those who have been laid off:
We are grateful for the contributions of those affected. We are offering severance packages, career transition support, and opportunities for relocation within our global network wherever possible. The company’s immediate focus is on managing this transition with care, transparency, and respect.
In addition, the company continues to fully support projects such as Oblivion Remastered and its work on Cyberpunk 2077 and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. It intends to strengthen such long-term partnerships in the future.
The remaster of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion has not only received good reviews and player numbers, but has also recently fulfilled a big fan request: You can read more about the new difficulty level via the link above. And then there’s the huge fan project Skyblivion, which is scheduled for release sometime in 2025.