Humble Games says it's 'restructuring,' employees say its entire staff has been laid off

Humble Games Showcase 2023 header image — (Image credit: Humble Games)

Humble Games, an indie-focused publisher with dozens of games in its catalog, is "restructuring," according to a statement published on X—but that new structure doesn't involve any of its employees.

Earlier in the day, a Humble Games employee said on LinkedIn that the publisher was closing: "At 9 am this morning, 36 employees of Humble Games were told that we were being let go and that the company is shutting down," they wrote. Another employee said that everyone at Humble Games had lost their job.

The publisher's statement says that it is "restructuring" rather than closing, and that it will continue to support developers it has publishing deals with.

However, according to Chris Radley, a former Humble Games employee who left in 2022, the entire Humble Games staff has been replaced by a "third party consultancy." Aftermath reports that a company called The Powell Group is taking over after Humble Games owner Ziff Davis unsuccessfully attempted to sell the publisher.

Humble Games is known for publishing games like Void Bastards, Forager, and Signalis, and has deals with several upcoming games, including survival game Lost Skies and co-op heisting game Monaco 2. It's related to Humble Bundle, the store which popularized pay-what-you-want game bundles, but they're separate entities, and today's news will have "no impact" on Humble Bundle, according to the statement.

In these challenging economic times for indie game publishing, Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations. This decision was not made lightly; it involved much deliberation and careful thought, with the goal of ensuring the stability…July 23, 2024

Both Humble Bundle and Humble Games are owned by media company Ziff Davis, which also owns gaming websites IGN, Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, GamesIndustry.biz, and others.

Last year was a bad year for games industry job security, but the situation only worsened this year, with thousands of layoffs in January alone.

This article was updated after publishing with the latest information about the nature of the "restructuring" and layoffs.

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.