505 Games Closes Several Offices

gamerant.com:

Milan-based Publisher 505 Games is undergoing some unfortunate downsizing, as it's announced the closure of offices in Germany, Spain, and France. This comes just a day after Remedy Entertainment announced its purchase of the full rights to Control, which 505 Games published in 2019, for 17 million euros.

As one of the industry's most prominent mid-tier third party publishers, 505 Games has been known for helping release a wide array of AA games over its history. Titles like the Sniper Elite series, Payday 2, Don't Starve, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Nightfill out its resume. More notably, 505 has also published a number of super well known and highly successful games, like Terraria, Rocket League, and No Man's Sky's Xbox One port. Most recently, 505 handled the PC port of Hideo Kojima's lauded Death Stranding, as well as the release of Remedy Entertainment's highly beloved Control.

Now, per a report by Insider Gaming, 505 Games is shutting down its offices based in Spain, France, and Germany. While this may seem like a catastrophic blow, it's reported that only ten employees have been affected by these closures. 505's parent company, Digital Bros, has stated that it's noticed gamers trending toward playing well-known IP for increasingly longer periods, and that it wishes to «prioritize high-quality and long-standing successful titles.» While not explicitly mentioned, this statement makes it seem like Digital Bros and, by extension 505, may be looking to focus more on publishing long-tailed live service games in the future. 505 has published such titles in the past, its biggest being the smash-hit Rocket League, though its most well-known releases have tended to be single-player titles.

It's difficult to say what the closure of these offices will mean for 505 Games moving forward. With only ten employees having reportedly been let go, perhaps the remaining staff at these offices will shift to work-from-home, or set up at 505's HQ in Milan. While this is certainly