United Kingdom-based developer Codemasters has confirmed to IGN it’s conducting a round of layoffs that will involve an undisclosed number of employees. This year, it has released F1 23, which received positive reviews in June, as well as EA Sports WRC with a more mixed success.
The developer wrote to IGN that it was doing “small-scale organizational changes” which caused layoffs on Dec. 4, to “meet evolving business needs and priorities.” It didn’t discolse which departments or how many employees were affected by the process. But it’s reportedly affecting the Quality Assurance team in particular, according to Insider Gaming’s sources.
Codemasters has been releasing yearly F1 games since 2009, and it has established itself as a giant in the racing game genre. The developer was bought by EA in 2021 for $1.2 billion, which was shortly followed by CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia leaving, marking a new turn for the developer.
This year’s WRC game, which is the official game of the World Rally Championship, has received mixed reviews. Now, the developer is scaling down ahead of next year.
Those layoffs come as yet more grim news in the video game industry in general, and in the U.K. in particular. Layoffs have been plaguing numerous high-profile and developers this year. In October, Worms and Overcooked developer Team17 laid off around 50 employees, mainly in the QA department. F1 Manager developer Frontier will also lay off employees in early 2024.
