Latest news with #GauthierAndres
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Virtuos helped make one of the year's best-selling video games. Now, 300 of its workers may be out of a job
Virtuos, which helped develop The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, one of the best-selling video games of 2025, is reportedly conducting layoffs that will affect 7% of its global staff, or around 300 people. Virtuos has contributed to many of the world's most popular video games, including Fortnite. Virtuos, the game-development studio that developed one of this year's best-selling video games, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off about 7% of its staff, which comes out to about 300 employees. The news comes courtesy of Gauthier Andres, a journalist and co-founder of the French video-game website Origami. Founded in Shanghai in 2004, Virtuos employs more than 4,200 people across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The company has expertise in many of the most popular game engines used today, including Unreal, Unity, Frostbite, and others, so it's been able to contribute to many different types of games, including some of the most popular ones like Fortnite, Dark Souls: Remastered, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, NieR Automata, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and countless others. Most notably, though, Virtuos was primarily responsible for the 2025 remaster of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which was a critical and commercial success when the original version launched in 2006. The remaster was just as popular: It became the third-best-selling game of 2025 less than a week after its release, reaching four million players in just three days. Virtuos did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. A rough year for game studios Virtuos is hardly the only gaming company conducting layoffs. 2025 has been a tough year for studios both big and small: Just this month, Microsoft laid off more than 9,000 employees, with a significant portion coming from its gaming division, which led to some studios closing (The Initiative) and several projects getting canceled, like the remake of the hit 2000 game Perfect Dark. Sony's Bend Studio also laid off dozens of employees, and Electronic Arts also cut roughly 300 to 400 employees this spring. There are several reasons for why game studios are conducting layoffs, with the primary factor being the skyrocketing costs associated with producing a video games. Games take years to make, with some budgets ballooning over $500 million—more than most Hollywood movies, save for the blockbuster superhero-type fare. Game studios also did a ton of hiring during the pandemic when people were forced indoors and doubled down on home entertainment. But once consumer spending returned to pre-pandemic levels, demand failed to keep up with the pace of studio growth, which is why we're seeing the correction in the industry now. The growing adoption of AI and other automated tools is also transforming workflows, which means some roles are now more vulnerable than they were before. It just goes to show that even achieving wild success provides no guarantees in the world of game development. Notably, Virtuos helped roll out a major update for Oblivion Remastered just this week. This story was originally featured on Solve the daily Crossword
Engadget
a day ago
- Business
- Engadget
Virtuos, the studio behind Oblivion Remastered, is laying off around 270 employees
Virtuos, the studio that developed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered , is laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 270 employees. Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at Origami , was first to report the news, which the studio later confirmed. Virtuos has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for Cyberpunk 2077 — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia. The company said the layoffs are primarily affecting "teams facing lower occupancy and slower demand due to structural shifts in the industry." It's firing around 200 people in Asia and approximately 70 in Europe. "Fewer than 10" of those are in France, where the core team working on Oblivion Remastered is based. Virtuos says it's offering affected workers layoff packages, career transition assistance and, "where possible," job opportunities across its network. "Over the past 12 months, Virtuos has deepened its commitment to premium co-development through key acquisitions of Beyond-FX, Pipeworks, and Umanaïa in North America, as well as Third Kind Games and Abstraction in Europe," Virtuos said in a statement. "These studios enhance our strengths in VFX, design, Unreal Engine programming and creative development. This ongoing investment reflects our intent to grow in areas where our expertise and scale create lasting value, while selectively exiting service segments where demand is weakening. We need to better match the locations of our teams with those of our clients to support the increasingly iterative nature of creative co-development. This alignment is why the current reorganization has a greater impact on our teams in Asia." Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and several ongoing live service games, like Dune: Awakening and Sea of Thieves . Nothing about the company's output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry. Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn't enough. Virtuos' layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July. Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare's long-in-development Everwild , and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative. Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner. Update July 17, 2025, 9:57AM ET: Added confirmation of the layoffs from Virtuos.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Virtuos, the studio behind Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off staff
Virtuos, the studio that developed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 300 employees, according to Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at Origami. The studio has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for Cyberpunk 2077 — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia. The brunt of the layoffs are happening to Virtuos employees in China, where Andres reports that around 200 positions are being eliminated. Virtuos' teams in France, who were primarily responsible for the surprise release of Oblivion Remastered back in April, are also expected to be impacted. Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and several ongoing live service games, like Dune: Awakening and Sea of Thieves. Nothing about the company's output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry. Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn't enough. Virtuos' layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July. Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare's long-in-development Everwild, and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative. Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner.
Engadget
2 days ago
- Business
- Engadget
Virtuos, the studio behind Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off staff
Virtuos, the studio that developed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered , is reportedly laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 300 employees, according to Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at Origami . The studio has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for Cyberpunk 2077 — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia. The brunt of the layoffs are happening to Virtuos employees in China, where Andres reports that around 200 positions are being eliminated. Virtuos' teams in France, who were primarily responsible for the surprise release of Oblivion Remastered back in April, are also expected to be impacted. Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and several ongoing live service games, like Dune: Awakening and Sea of Thieves . Nothing about the company's output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry. Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn't enough. Virtuos' layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July. Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare's long-in-development Everwild , and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative. Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner.
