Humble Games’ parent company, Ziff Davis, was rumored to have tried to sell the publisher twice before the mass layoffs and is now said to be looking to a third-party firm to “manage the products” going forward.
The layoffs were initially reported by Humble Games team members on social media yesterday, with the “operational restructuring” later confirmed in an official statement describing the decision as “difficult but necessary.” This appears to follow attempts to sell the publisher, according to a new report from Aftermath, which claims to have obtained audio of a meeting where Ziff Davis’ chief technology and acquisition officer, Steve Horowitz, spoke with the Humble Games team.
During the call, Horowitz blamed rising costs and delays, saying that “millions of dollars in additional development costs coupled with even longer delays in bringing titles to market” had been observed in “our sales efforts over the last several months,” which had clearly not been successful.
Horowitz added that the goal of Humble Games’ restructuring was to provide “the most cost-effective way to ensure that our games get to market, that our existing products get to market,” as well as support “the developers involved in that.” To accomplish this, the company is reportedly bringing in “a third party to help us manage our upcoming products and our legacy portfolio,” thus affecting “all positions” at Humble Games itself. Aftermath claims that this third party is The Powell Group – which has worked with studios including NetEase Games and Torn Banner Studios – but this has not been officially confirmed.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ earlier, a PR representative was unable to comment on how many people at Humble Games were affected but said that “operations will continue as normal”, and that all games that have already been released will continue to be supported while upcoming games will still be released. The representative also stated that developers would not be affected and that they would be contacted by the Humble Games team.
The changes at Humble Games come as a huge shock. Just last week, the beautifully hand-drawn Metroidvania game Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus – developed by Squid Shock Studios but published by Humble Games – was released on Steam to very positive reviews. Sadly, layoffs in the gaming industry have been rampant lately, affecting thousands of jobs.
