Humble Games lays off all employees, stays open
Humble Games — best known for publishing indie hits like Slay the Spire — has laid off all 36 of its workers, Engadget reports. The news first emerged via LinkedIn posts by former employees, but was later backed up by official statements, one saying that a «restructure» was taking place without mentioning the number of job cuts. A later one revealed that Humble Games will somehow continue operating, supporting both current and upcoming game projects.
Frequent updates might not be as great as you'd think.
To avoid confusion, we should note that Humble Games is separate from the Humble Bundle team, which puts out a steady stream of app bundles with proceeds going to charity. Both entities are, however, owned by Ziff Davis, which controls a large swath of gaming journalism including sites like IGN, Eurogamer, VG247, and Rock Paper Shotgun. It has also proven willing to shut down famous names if they're not meeting business goals, including 1Up, Computer Gaming World, and the official US PlayStation Magazine.
Aside from Slay the Spire, some other titles published under the Humble Games brand have included Coral Island, Unpacking, and Wandersong. This week's layoffs could make it tougher for indie developers to get games to market, since there are few established publishers willing to take risks. Major publishers like EA and Ubisoft are mostly focused on their in-house studios, and those are often tasked with ongoing triple-A franchises like Battlefield or Assassin's Creed.
The gaming industry has suffered tens of thousands of layoffs in the past year. Over 10,000 jobs were cut in 2023, and figures have only worsened in 2024, exceeding 10,800 so far. Some of the impacted companies have included EA, Unity, Relic, Bungie, Sony, and Bethesda.
A variety of factors are to blame, including mergers and acquistions, and one of the largest players — Embracer Group — failing to secure a $2 billion investment. The industry also ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic, only to
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