Skydance Games Cut Staff and Scaled Down Projects. It Hasn't Said Which Ones.

Skydance Games has laid off staff and scaled down some of its projects, a month after the merger that put the Paramount and Warner Bros. game teams under one roof. The company has not said how many people lost their jobs. It has not said which projects are affected.

The cuts landed on Friday, November 6, according to Output Lag, and staff posted about them on LinkedIn that day and the next. Skydance confirmed them on Monday, November 9.

What Skydance said

"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 Skydance spokesperson said in a statement carried by Deadline and TheWrap. "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."

The statement goes on: "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."

That is the company's stated reason. Deadline wrote that it "wasn't immediately clear" how many roles were impacted or which projects are being scaled back.

How many people

Every number so far comes from staff or from outlets, and none comes from Skydance.

David Vera, a lead engineer who kept his job, wrote on LinkedIn that Skydance "just lost a ton of great talent" and recommended his laid off colleagues by name. TheWrap reports that the post covers at least 25 people, from producers, writers and engineers to audio and level designers and 2D, 3D, VFX and tech artists. Shacknews counts 26 people tagged in the post. Kotaku counts more than 27.

Insider Gaming reports that at least 30 people were let go and that the real number is believed to be higher. That figure is sourced to multiple employees who are not named.

"The Skydance crew wasn't let go because of performance or problematic behaviors," Vera wrote. "These are all extremely worthy folks who were pushing themselves to the limit to try to make something they could all be proud of."

Rebecca Vessal, a senior gameplay and game AI programmer, also kept her job. "Most of my game team at Skydance Interactive got laid off today," she wrote on LinkedIn, in a post quoted by Deadline.

Which teams

The people publicly known to be affected worked on the Skydance and Paramount side. Insider Gaming wrote that "none of the impacted staff appear to be coming from any previously owned Warner Bros. Games studios." Kotaku is more careful and says it is unclear whether anyone on the Warner Bros. side was cut.

The group is new. Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media were combined into Paramount Games Studio in June. The merger with Warner Bros. Discovery closed on October 6, and that studio became Skydance Games. Inven Global reported that an internal email sent that day combined it with Warner Bros. Games' internal developers. Those include Hogwarts Legacy maker Avalanche Software, NetherRealm Studios, Rocksteady Studios, TT Games and the WB Games teams in Montreal and Boston. Tony Driscoll, Skydance's president of games and experiences, runs the combined group.

TheWrap lists the Paramount side's titles as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra and an untitled Star Wars game. Skydance has not tied the cuts to any of them, and no outlet has reported that any game is cancelled.

The bigger cost target

The layoffs come while the whole company is cutting costs. TheWrap reports that Skydance is looking for at least $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, from areas including real estate, marketing, technology, procurement and an unspecified number of layoffs. Deadline reports that the company launched a voluntary buyout program late last month as it moved to five days a week in the office.

Skydance has not connected the games cuts to that target. Its statement points to a review of where the games group is investing.

As of November 11, Skydance has not named a project or given a headcount.

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