It's a shame that Playtonic Games, the outfit that has garnered much love for creating Yooka-Laylee, had to announce that they had let go of some of their staff. This statement came on the back of reports and social media posts from some ex-employees indicating layoffs over the course of the preceding week.
In a statement today, Playtonic acknowledged this painful decision. They said, "We've all seen in recent years how the games industry has been changing." The statement went on to explain that quite a number of studios now find themselves in situations where they have to make painful decisions to keep the doors open, decisions that impact talented developers. "Like others, we've felt the knock-on effects and after exploring every possible avenue, we've had to make the incredibly heartbreaking decision to say goodbye to some truly brilliant members of the Playtonic team."
It was also stressed that this is not just a temporary obstacle but rather is part of a "period of profound change in how games are created and financed. The landscape is shifting and we must, along with it."
While they haven't exactly stated how many people were affected, a LinkedIn post from brand manager Anni Valkama indicated that about 14 employees from the production, art, and design teams have felt the pain of these cuts.
Founded in 2014 by a band of developers almost entirely hailing from Rare, Playtonic Games released their first game, Yooka-Laylee, in 2017. Contemporaries like to refer to this title as a spiritual successor to the revered Banjo-Kazooie games. This was succeeded by Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair in 2019. The studio recently opened a publishing wing, Playtonic Friends, in early 2021, followed by an investment from Tencent in the second half of the year. A new version of their first title, Yooka-Replaylee, is expected this year, while Cattle Country, developed by Castle Pixel and published under Playtonic Friends, just launched this week.
Sadly, the layoffs happening at Playtonic are part of an increasingly dire situation affecting the entire game development industry. This downward spiral began in 2023 and rampaged its way through 2025. This week has seen headlines for Electronic Arts cancelling a Black Panther game and closing the studio behind it, Cliffhanger Games. Less than a month previously, EA was also reportedly letting go of hundreds of employees-300 to 400, to be precise-while putting two projects at Respawn on ice. The list of companies from the recently unmasked layoffs in 2025 includes other big names like Ubisoft, Cyan Worlds (creators of Myst), Mighty Yell, Eidos Montreal, the gaming platform developer Unity, and many more.
This serves as a sobering reminder of the pressures and shifts that are still in play today in the field of video game making.
