A month after Paramount acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, its merged game division is laying people off

Just over a month after Paramount closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and renamed itself as Skydance, the company's games division has laid off an unspecified number of employees.

Reports of the cuts first surfaced earlier today on LinkedIn, where multiple employees reported being let go. Lead engineer David Vera, who was not among those put out of work, said the studio "lost a ton of great talent," while another post by principal environment artist Dana Klaren listed more than 25 people who'd been let go, including himself. Senior gameplay and game AI programmer Rebecca Vessal said in her own message that "most" of her team had been let go.

Prior to their merger, both Paramount and Warner had their own game divisions: Paramount actually had two, Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media, which were mashed together into Skydance Games Studio earlier this year. The merged company announced that it will be publishing PlatinumGames' upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin; Skydance New Media is also working on Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, although the current status of that game is unclear.

On the other side of the equation, Warner Bros. Games had struggled to follow up on the 2023 hits Legacy of Hogwarts and Mortal Kombat 1; the division was assessed as being of "relatively minor" value by Netflix when it was in the hunt for Warner, although Netflix co-CEO Gregory Peters said he was "super excited" about some of the properties the deal would provide access to.

And now, as we've seen many times previously, consolidation means cuts, which Skydance confirmed with Variety. "As part of our ongoing efforts to position Skydance Games for long-term growth and success, we are implementing reorganization and operational shifts across a few areas of our business," a rep said in a statement.

"We have stepped back and taken some time to consider where we are investing our efforts and have made the difficult decision to scale down some of our projects. As a result, there are roles impacted. This is not a reflection of the talent, dedication, or creativity of those affected and we are grateful for their contributions. We are committed to approaching the process with transparency, care and respect for those who are leaving the company."