Humble Games, the publishing division of digital storefront Humble Bundle, says it has “made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations” amid reports it has laid off all staff, but insists it is “not shutting down”.
Humble Games was formed in 2017, and has gone on to publish a significant number of acclaimed titles, including Stray Gods, Signalis, Slay the Spire, A Hat in Time, and Eurogamer’s Game of the Year in 2021, Unpacking.
Earlier today, however, several Humble Games employees took to social media with reports of layoffs at the company. “At 9AM this morning,” business development manager Nicola Kwan wrote in a post on LinkedIn, “36 employees of Humble Games were told that we were being let go and that the company is shutting down”.
“Another year, another lay off!,” Humble Bundle senior QA Emilee Kieffer added in a separate post. “Today is mine and my entire team’s last day at Humble Games.”
In response to those initial claims, a Humble Games spokesperson has now confirmed “restructuring” at the company, but insists it is “not shutting down” and that its upcoming releases – which includes Monaco 2 and Wizard of Legend 2 – won’t be affected. The spokesperson added they “cannot currently comment on staffing numbers at this time” when asked how many employees had been impacted by layoffs. Today’s news follows an unspecified number of job cuts at Humble Games last November.
“In these challenging economic times for indie game publishing, Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations,” the company wrote in a statement provided to Eurogamer. “This decision was not made lightly; it involved much deliberation and careful thought, with the goal of ensuring the stability and support of our developers and ongoing projects. Additionally, the restructuring of operations at Humble Games will have no impact on operations at Humble Bundle.”
“We are acutely aware of the profound impact this decision has on our team members at Humble Games and deeply empathise with everyone affected,” it continued. “Our team’s contributions have been world-class and invaluable, supporting the launch of our games since we started publishing in 2017. We are committed to navigating this transition with as much empathy and understanding as possible.”
“Supporting our development partners and assisting former team members remains our top priority,” Humble Games concluded in its statement. “We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Thank you for your support and compassion during this challenging period. It is deeply appreciated.”
Humble Bundle, alongside Humble Games, was purchased by Ziff Davis in October 2017 and has operated under subsidiary IGN Entertainment since then. Eurogamer and its sister sites, including Rock Paper Shotgun and GamesIndustry.biz, have been part of IGN Entertainment since May, when Ziff Davis acquired Gamer Network from former owner Reedpop.
2024 continues to be a devastating year for games industry employees, with over 10,000 people having lost their jobs so far. That’s compared to the 10,500 games industry workers who were laid off across the entirety of 2023.