Iron Galaxy lays off 66 employees in a 'last resort' effort to 'enable our long term survival'

Iron Galaxy, the developer of Killer Instinct seasons 2 and 3, Extinction, and Rumbleverse, is laying off 66 employees as a "last resort" effort to keep the studio afloat.

"For several years now, we have watched our industry undergo significant change," the studio wrote in a message posted on the Iron Galaxy website. "So many of our friends and colleagues who work in game development have suffered a series of painful adjustments. We’ve seen talented people lose their jobs. Inspiring companies have closed their doors. Our own game, Rumbleverse, was met with a premature sunset.

"All the while at Iron Galaxy, we’ve been making sacrifices to keep our teams intact. It has been our hope that we could emerge from this long winter alongside all the teammates who have come to work with us over the years. Today, we’re making the unfortunate announcement that we have run out of room to maneuver amidst this slow recovery.

"Today, Iron Galaxy is parting ways with some of our developers and support staff. In total, we have reduced our employee base by 66 people. This was a means of last resort for us. It’s a measure we do not take lightly to enable our long-term survival."

Rumbleverse lasted only six months before it was taken offline in February 2023, but Iron Galaxy has also worked as a co-developer and support studio on numerous high-profile games over the years including Skyrim, Overwatch, Uncharted, Fallout: 76, and Diablo 3, which then-co-CEO Adam Boyes said in a 2024 interview with GamesIndustry "creates more of a spider web sort of support system," and that "we try to have a myriad of partners and projects to create a bit more stability."

And now, less than a year later, here we are. Despite Iron Galaxy's quest for stability, the cuts feel almost inevitable at this point: It comes at the start of the third year of an industry-wide bloodbath that's put tens of thousands of people at game companies of all sizes out of work. 2023 was a tough year, 2024 was even worse, and so far 2025 isn't looking like a turnaround is in the offing: January alone saw significant cuts at Piranha Games, Ubisoft, Phoenix Labs, and BioWare. It's bad enough that even Mythic Quest, the Rob McElhenney-headed comedy series about a fictional MMO and the studio who makes it, touches on the topic.

Boyes announced last August that he would be leaving Iron Galaxy at the end of the year, which in hindsight could've been one part of the company's maneuvering to try to avoid layoffs. "An industry that I love is suffering. My new inspirations are to find ways to help people who make games solve their biggest problems," Boyes wrote at the time; he recently launched a consultancy business with a similar mission statement.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.