Just over two years after being acquired
A number of staff have been laid off at 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks - the developers behindGhostrunner,Shadow Warrior,Duke Nukemand more - as the game industry devastation wrought by Embracer’s restructuring efforts continues.
While Embracer and the studios themselves are yet to officially confirm the layoffs, Miller’s reports were corroborated by posts from a number of former 3D Realms and Slipgate staff announcing that they had been laid off. Among those affected were lead character artist Lars Bundvad-Åmodt, sound designer Michael Markie, social media manager Alex Danino, texture artist Miguel Dominguez and game programmer Ziyad Barakat.
More and more sources have told me at least half the company (Slipgate/3DR) is laid off. We’re looking at hiring at least 2-3.
3D Realms were founded as Apogee Software and are perhaps best-known for creating Duke Nukem in the early nineties, as well as publishing id Software games such asWolfenstein 3DandCommander Keen. In 2009, in the wake ofDuke Nukem Forever’s nightmarishly long road to release, the company halted their development efforts, laid off the majority of staff and handed Duke over to Gearbox, becoming largely a licensing outlet.
The two studios join a staggeringly long list of studios to have suffered layoffs this year under Embracer, which kicked off arestructuring programmeover the summer that has seenover 900 people lose their jobs(though that total is almost certainly much higher already by now), veteran studiosVolitionandFree Radical closed- the latter just days before this latest news - and several games cancelled.
Thoughts with all of those affected at 3D Realms and Slipgate, especially given the awful timing days before Christmas.
