Iron Galaxy lays off staff in company downsizing
▼ Summary
– Iron Galaxy Studios is laying off an unknown number of employees and drastically reducing its company size.
– The studio attributes the layoffs to ongoing difficult market conditions in the video game industry.
– This follows a previous layoff of 66 employees in 2025, which was described as a last-ditch effort to save the company.
– The company is adopting a new structure, accepting current market conditions as a permanent new normal.
– Its recent work has focused on co-development partnerships and ports, following the 2023 shutdown of its original game Rumbleverse.
The video game industry continues to face significant turbulence, with another prominent studio announcing a major restructuring. Iron Galaxy Studios, the developer behind titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 and numerous high-profile ports, is implementing a substantial downsizing, resulting in an undisclosed number of layoffs. The Chicago-based company framed the move as a necessary adaptation to what it now views as a permanent shift in the market landscape.
In a statement on LinkedIn, the studio confirmed it is letting go of “a number of teammates and friends” as it transitions to a “new company structure.” The announcement expressed regret while emphasizing the need to evolve, stating, “We are terribly sorry to lose them as we take steps to adapt to the climate of the video game industry. It’s time for us to evolve again.” The decision is directly attributed to the challenging market conditions that have persisted across the sector, driving widespread layoffs and studio closures for several years.
This restructuring marks a stark contrast to the studio’s expansion just a few years ago. In 2022, Iron Galaxy opened a new office in Nashville, Tennessee, pledging an investment of nearly $1 million and the creation of 108 jobs. The company also maintains additional offices in Orlando, Florida and Austin, Texas. However, its trajectory shifted notably after the shutdown of its original game, Rumbleverse, in 2023, just six months after launch. Since then, the studio’s primary work has involved co-development partnerships and porting projects, such as bringing The Last of Us Part I to PC. More recently, it has released several experiences built in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), including Deathtrap Dungeon which launched earlier this year.
The company’s statement suggests a fundamental strategic pivot. “This year, we’re adopting a new posture to accept these current market conditions as permanent,” it explained. The studio cited evolving player consumption habits and changing publisher investment criteria as the new normal impacting all its partners. Crucially, the announcement noted it is “impossible” to sustain the employee count maintained over the last year.
This reference to “last year” is particularly telling, as Iron Galaxy conducted a separate round of layoffs in 2025, cutting 66 positions in what was described at the time as a last-ditch effort to ensure the company’s survival. The latest cuts indicate those previous measures were insufficient to stabilize the business against the ongoing industry headwinds. The exact scale of the current workforce reduction remains unclear as the studio has not yet publicly specified the number of affected employees.
(Source: Gamedeveloper.com)