UPDATE 24/7/24: A “restructuring” of Humble Games will see the brand’s current projects completed by a third-party video games consultancy firm, it has emerged.
“I want to be very clear, this is NOT a performance setup,” former Humble Bundle CEO Chris Radley wrote on LinkedIn. “This is a full shutdown of Humble Games. Operations have been transferred to a third party consultancy. NO employees remain.”
Radley said the description of Humble Games’ dismissal as an arrangement was “disrespectful”, and suggested that Ziff Davis’ statement was written by AI. Posting on social media platform X, Michael Douse, director of publishing at Baldur’s Gate 3 Larian, also suggested that the statement was made by AI.
Separately, Aftermath obtained a recorded call in which Humble Games employees were told that all 36 people would be out of a job. In it, Steve Horowitz, president of Ziff Davis’ technology and retail division, confirmed that the remaining projects will be completed by the consulting firm of The Powell Group.
“We’re going to use a third party to help us move the board forward, as well as the back catalog,” Horowitz said. “As a result, all aspects of Humble Games will be affected.”
Eurogamer contacted Ziff Davis for more.
LIFE STORY 23/7/24: Humble Games, the publishing arm of digital store Humble Bundle, says it has “made the difficult but necessary decision to streamline our operations” amid reports it has laid off all staff, but insists “not closing”.
Humble Games was founded in 2017, and has gone on to publish a large number of popular titles, including Stray Gods, Signalis, Slay the Spire, Hat in Time, and Eurogamer’s Game of the Year in 2021, Unpacking .
However, earlier today, several Humble Games employees took to social media with reports of being fired from the company. “At 9AM this morning,” business development manager Nicola Kwan wrote in a post on LinkedIn, “the 36 employees of Humble Games were told that we were being let go and that the company was closing”.
“One year, one fell asleep!”, Humble Bundle senior QA Emilee Kieffer added in a separate post. “Today is my and my team’s last day at the Humble Games.”
Responding to those initial allegations, a Humble Games spokesperson has since confirmed a “fix” at the company, but insisted that it is “not closed” and that its upcoming updates – which include Monaco 2 and Wizard of Legend 2 – they will not exist. involved. The spokesperson added that they are “not able to talk about employee numbers at this time” when asked how many employees were affected by the layoffs. Today’s news follows an undisclosed number of job cuts at Humble Games last November.
“In these difficult economic times for indie game publishing, Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations,” the company wrote in a statement given to Eurogamer. “This decision was not made lightly; it involved a lot of thought and careful consideration, with the aim of ensuring the stability and support of our developers and ongoing projects. In addition, the reorganization of ts The operation at Humble Games will have no effect on the operation of Humble Bundle.
“We are well aware of the huge impact this decision has on our team members at Humble Games and we sympathize with all those affected,” it 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 navigating this transition with compassion and understanding. as much as possible.”
“Supporting our development partners and helping members of the original team remains our top priority,” Humble Games concluded in its statement. “We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Thank you for your support and compassion during this difficult time. It is greatly appreciated.”
Humble Bundle, along with Humble Games, was purchased by Ziff Davis in October 2017 and has been operating under the subsidiary IGN Entertainment since then. 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 stressful year for workers in the sports industry, with more than 10,000 people losing their jobs so far. This compares to 10,500 sports industry workers in 2023 who were laid off throughout the year 2023.
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