Skydance Lays Off Game Developers Post-Warner Bros. Merger

Skydance has reportedly begun laying off games staff, with the publicly identified cuts hitting at least 30 people, according to Insider Gaming. The layoffs began last week, roughly a month after Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery brought the companies' games businesses under the same owner. Skydance has not announced a headcount or commented on the layoffs, leaving the total number of affected workers uncertain.r>The cuts appear concentrated on Skydance's existing development teams rather than the Warner Bros. Games studios it recently acquired. Vertical Slice's 7 November report, based on employee LinkedIn posts, identified staff associated with Paramount Games and Skydance Interactive. Paramount Games associate design director David Ballard confirmed he was laid off alongside several colleagues. Lead engineer David Vera, who was not affected, listed 25 people who appeared to have lost their jobs. Skydance Interactive senior gameplay and game AI programmer Rebecca Vessal said most of her team had been let go.The affected employees worked across design and engineering roles, rather than a single department. Insider Gaming's later report estimated the number of affected workers above the 25 names in Vera's post. The overlapping studio names reflect an earlier reorganisation. Vertical Slice reports that Paramount merged Skydance Interactive, the developer behind The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, with Skydance New Media in July to form Paramount Games. Following the Warner Bros. acquisition, the company brought its games divisions together under the Skydance Games name, while an internal FAQ said individual businesses such as WB Games would retain their identities.Insider Gaming confirmed none of the publicly identified affected employees came from previously owned Warner Bros. Games studios, placing the known cuts among staff who worked directly for Skydance before the acquisition. Neither report identified a cancellation or release-date change resulting from these layoffs, and there is currently no reported project-level impact for players to act on. The entertainment side has also been setting out its post-merger structure, including James Gunn and Peter Safran remaining at DC Studios. The games cuts follow other recent industry reductions, including reported layoffs at Sucker Punch, though those are separate company decisions.