Add another games company laying off staff to the growing list: Team17 has “entered a period of consultation” as the company restructures, with layoffs expected in the coming weeks.
Eurogamer first broke the news, alleging that Team17 expected to incur “significant job losses,” with a majority of those impacted coming from the internal Quality Assurance (QA) team. Further updates allege that the developer’s usability team, as well as the studio’s programming and marketing departments, are also set to see cuts. Team17 is the developer and publisher behind titles including Dredge, Blasphemous 2, and Overcooked.
The layoffs at Team17 come amidst Eurogamer reporting that CEO Michael Pattinson was to depart the company – the studio has since confirmed this in a statement provided to VG247.
“In response to the reports concerning the departure of Michael Pattison from Team17, we can confirm we have amicably parted ways with Michael,” the supplied statement said. “We can also confirm that we have sadly entered into a period of consultation today within Team17 Digital, with Astragon and Storytoys remaining unaffected by the restructuring plans.”
Currently, there’s no confirmation of just how many Team17 employees are at risk of losing jobs, however, Eurogamer suggests that about 50 roles may be at risk as the company allegedly seeks to outsource QA work instead. These alleged layoffs follow a wave of job losses at the studio earlier in the year, which were described in a statement as a “re-alignment” within the company. Eurogamer alleges that staff were told at the time that no further layoffs would occur.
It’s been a difficult year for game development staff across the globe, with other companies including Epic Games facing job cuts of up to 16% of its workforce in the past few weeks, and many more prior as companies ‘restructure’ their workforce.
Team17’s consultation period will reportedly conclude by November this year so, should these reports be confirmed, we may see more details coming out of this situation – including to what extent the alleged layoffs will impact the workforce.
Lead Image Credit: Team17
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