Thunderful Games has announced its second round of layoffs in a year.
Thunderful Games has announced its second round of layoffs in a year
The Swedish studio - which developed the ‘SteamWorld’ series - first announced it would be undergoing a restructuring programme in January, and now it has been revealed Thunderful will be laying off a further 80 to 100 employees after the company missed its revenue targets and is now “struggling with negative cash flows”.
In a statement, Thunderful CEO Martin Walfisz said of the restructuring programme: “This newly announced program follows the cost-saving measures introduced earlier this year, as well as the divestment of the Group’s distribution business to manage previously incurred net debt.
“Whilst significant reductions in cost levels were achieved this year, revenue targets have not been met and the Group is still struggling with negative cash flow.”
The restructuring programme means the studio will be shifting its focus to external publishing for third-party titles, which Thunderful hopes will “reduce the Group’s fixed costs and allow for greater flexibility, enabling faster, diverse game releases by leveraging external talent and resources in a balanced manner, while still retaining some internal development capacity”.
Walfisz concluded: “It is regrettable to announce a second restructuring of Thunderful in less than a year, but we unfortunately see no other alternatives in order to ensure the Group’s long-term sustainability and resilience.”
The company hopes the layoffs will improve cash flow by between SEK 80 million ($7.2 million) and SEK 90 million ($8.1 million).
In January, Thunderful announced it would reduce 20 per cent of its workforce to cut costs by up to SEK 110 million ($9.9 million).