Square Enix is present process mass layoffs in the present day, doubtlessly impacting over 100 people, alongside a broader effort to consolidate its publishing group and focus its improvement work in Japan.
By way of public posts from former workers in addition to affirmation from inside sources, IGN has realized that workers in the UK and US are being knowledgeable of the layoffs in the present day, with an unknown variety of US workers being dismissed by the tip of the week, and a potential 137 jobs in danger in the UK. Underneath UK regulation, Square Enix should bear redundancy consultations to see if any jobs can doubtlessly be saved, so the ultimate quantity in the UK may very well be smaller. It just isn’t but clear which groups had been impacted by this, or to what extent.
Internally, a slide presentation now publicly available was additionally shared with workers earlier in the present day, supplied a progress report on Square Enix’s ongoing “reorganization of abroad organizations”, of which this restructuring appears to be an element. Per Square Enix, the technique has already concerned “clos[ing] abroad improvement studios and shift[ing] towards consolidating improvement features in Japan.”
As part of this, Square Enix already bought Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, Square Enix Montreal, and quite a few related IPs to Embracer Group. It additionally already laid off workers across its Western operations in 2024.
That leaves Square Enix with the Life Is Unusual, Outriders, and Simply Trigger franchises presently managed by its Western studios, in addition to the publishing of Powerwash Simulator.
In that very same presentation, Square Enix additionally shared that it expects 70% of its QA work to be dealt with by generative AI by the tip of 2027. The corporate has said in the previous that it intends to be “aggressive in making use of AI” throughout each improvement and publishing.
IGN has reached out to Square Enix for remark.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You will discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.