Iron Galaxy cuts more developers in an attempt to survive

Iron Galaxy, the Chicago-based game company best known for helping other studios port their games to new platforms, will lay off dozens of employees, it announced Friday. The downsizing comes after the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 remaster collection to positive reviews.

The layoffs could affect up to 90 employees, a source said my city. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “Since 2020, when everything about video game creation began to change, people have been waiting for business to return to normal,” the company posted on LinkedIn. “These are the conversations we’ve had with colleagues and partners on our travels to the places where game makers gather. This year, we’re taking a new stance to accept these current market conditions as permanent.”

He continued: “Players are consuming games in new ways. Publishers have different criteria for investing in game development. This new normal has affected all of our partners. As Iron Galaxy adapts, we have to make painful decisions about what we can be as a company. It’s impossible for us to maintain the size of the team we brought last year, even after last year’s downsizing.”

Established in 2008 as a studio for hire, Iron Galaxy has supported companies from some of gaming’s biggest franchises, including Killer Instinctthe Batman: Arkham games, i Borderlands. In 2022, in collaboration with Epic Games, the studio submitted its original IP Rumbleversea live multiplayer wrestling game that ended up offline for the first year. PlayStation veteran Adam Boyes left as co-CEO in 2024.

Despite the high-profile failure, the studio managed to avoid layoffs by continuing its joint development support work, including contributing to the PC version of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastereduntil layoffs became inevitable in early 2025. “Today, Iron Galaxy is parting ways with some of our developers and support staff. In total, we’ve reduced our employee base by 66 people,” the studio said. he wrote at the time. “This was a means of last resort for us. It is a measure we do not take lightly to enable our long-term survival.”

Unfortunately, this last resort wasn’t enough, as console games have stagnated, achievements have become harder to come by, and outside investment is becoming scarcer. “We are very sorry to lose them as we take steps to adapt to the climate of the video game industry,” Iron Galaxy wrote today. “It’s time for us to evolve again.”