Over just the past few years alone, thousands upon thousands of jobs have disappeared from the video game industry, and this latest set of losses hits close to home for the fighting game community.
Iron Galaxy announced today the studio is laying off a decent chunk of their staff to ensure the company’s long-term survival.
According to the Killer Instinct studio, 66 developers and support employees have lost their jobs unfortunately.
Iron Galaxy’s post claims this was a “last resort” for them after current attempts to keep the company whole while weathering this financial storm did not work out in their favor.
“It’s a measure we do not take lightly to enable our long-term survival,” reads their official statement.
This does not mean the developers of Rumbleverse and Divekick are in danger of closing right now, but their company health does not appear to be in line with where it needs to be at least.
There’s no explicit reason given, but the premature sunsetting of Rumbleverse after only six months from Epic Games in 2023 is likely a large contributing factor.
Iron Galaxy was founded in 2008 in Chicago, Illinois and have since gone on to open three more studios in Orlando, Florida, Nashville, Tennessee and Austin, Texas most recently in 2022.
We’re not sure what the total size of their employee pool is in 2025, but it’s estimated they were around 250 in 2022. So that would be almost 25% of their staff if that number were still accurate, however, it was likely higher before the layoffs.
Iron Galaxy made a name for itself in the FGC with 2013’s Divekick as well as taking over development of Killer Instinct from Double Helix beyond the reboot’s first season.
Although they don’t make as many original titles now, the studio has kept quite busy porting and remastering other publishers’ games to other systems, especially PC and the Nintendo Switch.
Some of their recent works include The Last of Us Part 1 and 2, Metroid Prime Remastered, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and Apex Legends for the Switch.
With their return to work on the Anniversary Edition of Killer Instinct, there’s been some hope to see the team return to the series again though nothing official has come of that yet.
Everyone at EventHubs sends our sincere regards and sympathies to all of those developers and staff impacted.
You can find the full statement from Iron Galaxy below or on their LinkedIn page.
An update on our staff
For several years now, we have watched our industry undergo significant change. 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.
Iron Galaxy is still committed to serving our partners in the creation of games. Our capabilities remain intact to work with the best companies in the world on the most beloved player experiences. This year, we’ll continue to explore new ways to support an industry we love and keep working towards its ongoing recovery.
At this moment, our focus is on our teammates who have begun a journey toward their next role. We thank them for working with us. We’ll be doing everything we can to support them in the search for the next phase of their careers. Keep an eye out for them if you need good people. We are sorry to see them go.
Source: Event Hubs
