Indie Publisher Humble Games Is the Latest to Get Hit with Layoffs

Humble Games
Image Courtesy: Humble Games
In Short
  • As posted by many ex-employees, Humble Games has laid off over 36 employees.
  • The employees also claimed the company had shut down its operations.
  • However, according to a recent statement, Humble Games is undergoing a company restructure but hasn't shut shop.

Layoffs have hit many video game companies throughout 2024, and Humble Games is the latest company to experience this challenge. You might’ve heard about this publisher, as they published some popular indie hits in recent years—games like Midnight Fight Express, Signalis, etc. Unfortunately, after publishing such prolific indie darlings, the people responsible for the work have been let go, as reports start coming from the company.

The news was initially much more grim, and it still is. In the beginning, many ex-employees of Humble Games posted on LinkedIn.

For example, Kenny Schwarz, an ex-Humble Games producer, discussed the layoff. Similarly, a senior QA, Emilee Kiefer, posted about the layoff at X (formerly Twitter).

Nicola Kwan, who handled BizDev at Humble Games, posted that 36 employees were affected by this layoff. Furthermore, the company has also shut down after these rounds of layoffs.

After these few posts went live and people started talking about it, Humble published a statement online. The statement clarified that the company is getting restructured, and the business isn’t getting closed.

The statement claimed the company decided to ensure the stability and support of their developers and ongoing projects. It also claimed that supporting its development partners and former team members is its top priority. It is committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for everyone.

It is unfortunate that, once again, developers are the ones affected, whereas publishers and C-suites are the ones affected. Ziff Davis acquired Humble Games in 2017 through its IGN Entertainment subsidiary.

Similarly, the company purchased Eurogamer, GamesIndustry.biz, Rock Paper Shotgun, and VG247 earlier this year. Humble Games is currently responsible for publishing and assisting in seven upcoming indie games.

We hope the ones affected get new places to shine as quickly as possible. Wit that, what do you think about the layoffs? Let us know in the comments below.

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