In the latest round of layoffs to hit the games industry, Side Inc., a globally reaching studio that provides quality assurance (QA), localization, and other services to studios such as Larian, Square Enix, and Bethesda, has confirmed to Insider Gaming that a small group of employees were let go.
Speaking to the games industry publication, a spokesperson said:
“This is the nature of being a services company, partnering with the biggest developers and publishers in the world. Games have different staffing and experience requirements depending on where you are in the development cycle.”
Insider Gaming reports that fewer than ten people were laid off, and that the layoffs are not related to ZeniMax’s recently cancelled MMO, Blackbird. Side, formerly known as Ghostpunch Games, claims that some of the layoffs were contracts that aren’t being renewed.
Xbox Layoffs Lead the Charge
Following a brutal 2024, layoffs in the games industry have been unfortunately common this year as well. Microsoft is at the center of most.
The Xbox creator has let go of over 15,000 employees in 2025, due in part to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and in part to balancing out the budget after buying Activision-Blizzard. These layoffs included the shutdown of The Initiative, which was working on a promising-looking Perfect Dark reboot, as well as Rare Studios, the developer of Sea of Thieves.
According to Business Insider, the tech giant has advised employees to brush up on their AI skills if they want to stay relevant. A grim outlook for many, no doubt.
Other Games Industry Layoffs in 2025
Just today, Supermassive Games, the creators of the Dark Pictures series of games, announced that it is laying off approximately 36 workers, following a similar reduction of 90 workers last year. This also delayed their latest game, Directive 8020.
Gaming conglomerate Electronic Arts (EA) laid off somewhere between 300 and 400 employees in April, as well as cancelling the latest Titanfall game.
Xbox Games Coming to PlayStation
In a shocking move for the games industry, Microsoft has been slowly listing its back catalogue of games on PlayStation, assumedly due to low sales on the Xbox platform.
Admittedly, this has been quite a successful initiative. Forza Horizon 5 alone sold 2 million copies in its first month on PlayStation, according to Alinea Analytics. This is following games like Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, and others coming to Sony’s platform.
On a more hopeful note, one could expect Microsoft to prevent future layoffs thanks to these sales numbers, which should contribute to a bigger budget for workers.
