UPDATE 24/7/24: Humble Games’ “restructuring” will see the brand’s current projects completed by a third-party video game consultancy, it has been revealed.
“I want to be abundantly clear, this is NOT a restructuring of operations,” former Humble Bundle creative chief Chris Radley wrote on LinkedIn. “This is a complete shutdown of Humble Games. Operations have been outsourced to a third-party consulting firm. No staff left.’
Radley said describing Humble Games’ layoffs as restructuring was “disrespectful” and suggested that Ziff Davis’ statement was written by AI. Posting on social media platform X, Michael Dawes, director of publishing at Baldur’s Gate 3 studio Larian, also suggested the statement was generated by AI.
Separately, Aftermath obtained a recording of the conversation in which Humble Games staff were told that all 36 people would lose their jobs. In it, Steve Horowitz, president of technology and procurement for Ziff Davis, confirmed that the remaining projects will be completed by consulting firm The Powell Group.
“We’re going to use a third party to help us manage the progress as well as the back catalog,” Horowitz said. “As a result, all Humble Games roles will be affected.”
Eurogamer contacted Ziff Davies for more.
ORIGINAL STORY 7/23/24: Humble Games, the publishing arm of digital store Humble Bundle, says it has “made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations” amid reports it has cut all staff, but insists it is “not closing”.
Humble Games was founded in 2017 and has published a significant number of acclaimed titles, including Stray Gods, Signalis, Slay the Spire, A Hat in Time and Eurogamer’s 2021 Game of the Year, Unpacking.
Earlier today, however, several Humble Games employees took to social media to announce layoffs at the company. “At 9am this morning,” business development manager Nicola Quan wrote in a LinkedIn post, “36 Humble Games employees were told we were being let go and that the company was closing.”
“Another year, another layoff!” added Humble Bundle Senior QA Emily Keefer in a separate post. “Today is the last day for me and my entire team at Humble Games.”
In response to those initial claims, a spokesperson for Humble Games has now confirmed a “restructuring” at the company, but insists that it is “not shutting down” and that its upcoming releases – which include Monaco 2 and Wizard of Legend 2 – will not be affected. The spokesman added that they were “not currently able to comment on staff numbers at this time” when asked how many staff were affected by the cuts. Today’s news follows an unspecified number of job cuts at Humble Games last November.
“In these economically challenging times for independent game publishing, Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations,” the company wrote in a statement provided to Eurogamer. “This decision was not taken lightly; involved a lot of discussion and careful consideration to ensure stability and support for our developers and ongoing projects. Additionally, the restructuring of Humble Games’ operations will have no impact on Humble Bundle’s operations.”
“We realize the profound impact this decision has had on our team members at Humble Games, and we deeply sympathize with everyone affected,” he continued. “Our team’s contributions have been world-class and invaluable, supporting the launch of our games since we began publishing in 2017. We are committed to managing this transition with as much empathy and understanding as possible.”
“Supporting our development partners and helping former team members remains our top priority,” Humble Games concluded in its statement. “We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for all involved. Thank you for your support and compassion during this difficult time. I appreciate it deeply.”
Humble Bundle, along with Humble Games, was purchased by Ziff Davis in October 2017 and has since operated under the IGN Entertainment subsidiary. Eurogamer and its sister sites, including Rock Paper Shotgun and GamesIndustry.biz, have been part of IGN Entertainment since May, when Ziff Davis acquired Gamer Network from former owner Reedpop.
2024 continues to be a devastating year for employees in the gaming industry, with over 10,000 people losing their jobs so far. This compares to 10,500 gaming industry workers being laid off in all of 2023.
