505 Games' parent company lays off 30% of its workforce, says gamers really only want sequels so that's what it's going to make

pcgamer.com:

The videogame industry continues to be plagued by layoffs as 505 Games parent company Digital Bros has announced plans to eliminate roughly 30% of its total workforce. The company said the cuts are necessary because, simply put, gamers prefer sequels and remakes to brand-new games, and so that's what it's going to focus on.

«The videogame market has evolved since the pandemic to be more selective in terms of new games, with consumers increasingly reverting to well established intellectual properties and playing these same games for longer periods,» the company said. «Digital Bros strategy has had to adapt to this new and evolving competitive scenario and will focus its efforts moving forward on the release of sequels and new versions of previously successful and established games, with a limited number of new larger budgets productions.

»In order to prioritize high-quality and long-standing successful titles, Digital Bros has reconsidered the number of projects under development and as such, will review the organization structure accordingly to align with the evolving competitive environment in the medium to long-term to ensure maximum operational efficiency."

Digital Bros isn't a particularly well-known name in the videogame world, but it owns a number of studios you may be familiar with: 505 Games is the biggest name of the bunch, but it also has DR Studios, Kunos Simulazioni, Avantgarden, Nesting Games, Supernova Games, Infinity Plus Two, and Ingame Studios. Through them (primarily 505), the company holds publishing rights to a number of big names to come out in recent years, including Control, Death Stranding, Ghostrunner, the reborn Hawken (which we didn't particularly care for) and Bloodstained: Ritual of the