The closure of BioWare and layoff of roughly 400 people at Electronic Arts is being rightly excoriated as an example of the corrosive effects of capital on pretty much everything good. But that same sort of thing happens, maybe more often than we'd like to think, on smaller scales, too. Case in point: Gamepires, creator of open-world survival game Scum, which announced last week that it's putting people out of work.
The bad news came via an unattributed message posted on X: "A difficult decision has been made to reduce the size of the Gamepires team, which means saying goodbye to colleagues who've helped shape Scum and the studio. This step is necessary to help Gamepires adapt to challenging market conditions and long-term sustainability."
It's all very bloodless and generic—the sort of statement that could've come from just about any game studio making layoffs over the past six months or so.
What makes this particular case feel so egregious, though, is that Gamepires was acquired by Splash Damage Group, in a deal backed by Emona Capital, just eight months ago. And that acquisition was made just three months after Splash Damage made major layoffs of its own, so it could "remain agile and adaptable in what has been a very challenging market." And those layoffs came just two months after Splash Damage was acquired by then-unnamed private equity investors.
Splash Damage hasn't released a game since Gears Tactics in 2020: Its planned next big thing, Transformers: Reactivate, was cancelled in 2025. Gamepires' survival game Scum, meanwhile, is still ticking over nicely on Steam, where it's being regularly updated with hotfixes and content updates.
In fact, Splash Damage said when it acquired Gamepires that "bringing the teams together around Scum gives Splash Damage Group immediate, meaningful work to focus on," adding, "That stability has been important for protecting roles and giving the studio a solid foundation for its future. Splash Damage Group is currently just under 150 people, and we will be working closely with Emona to grow the group over the next few years."
Yet here we are, eight months later.
So, to recap:
- Splash Damage gets bought up by private equity
- Splash Damage lays off employees
- Splash Damage, backed by private equity, acquires Gamepires
- Gamepires lays off employees
The number of people put out of work wasn't revealed, but in response to our inquiry Splash Damage issued the following statement:
"Gamepires is part of Splash Damage Group and has reduced the size of its team in response to challenging market conditions and to support the studio’s long-term sustainability.
"These redundancies have affected colleagues we work closely with, whose work has helped make SCUM what it is today. We know this is difficult news for those leaving. We have great respect for their work and the contribution they’ve made to both the game and the studio.
"Development of SCUM will continue, and we’ll keep working with our colleagues at Gamepires to support updates and new content."
