While support studio Virtuos has been working on quite a few high-profile titles recently, including the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the company has seemingly been hit by a round of lay-offs. According to Origami’s Gauthier Andres, around 7 percent of the workforce has been affected, amounting to 300 positions. In a series of posts on BlueSky, Andres has noted that the primary location hit by these lay-offs is China, with around 200 employees being affected there.
According to Andres, Virtuos has been looking to reposition itself as a support studio for major projects that are part of big franchises. Comparing this positioning to that of Bluepoint, Andres noted that the studio had pushed itself quite hard with its work on The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. The deal for working on that game reportedly involved no royalties or bonuses tied to the success of the project, as well as employees being pushed hard to over-deliver.
“In February, towards the end of Oblivion‘s development, the company announced a freeze on raises and a reduction in group-wide bonuses. Management had been questioned about the potential risk of layoffs as a result of these measures but reassured employees,” noted Andres (translation via Google).
In response to the current lay-offs, Andres has reported that employees at Virtuos Lyon are on strike to protest the lay-offs, as well as to protect the office itself, which is said to be currently dealing with a merger of leadership. The studio is also said to be “cautiously and gradually” looking into the use of generative AI. “In just one year, we’ve gone from a few group-level presentations to basic but mandatory training sessions for employees,” said one source.
Virtuos itself hasn’t yet released any statement about these lay-offs. Members of the company have, however, previously spoken about optimisation to bring games to the Nintendo Switch 2, as well as the success of the recent launch of the Switch 2.
https://bsky.app/profile/gautoz.cool/post/3lu3ntewdrk2t
Selon plusieurs sources, ces suppressions viseront d'abord la Chine (200 personnes) mais toucheront de nombreux pôles, dont les studios français, porteurs du récent succès TES IV Oblivion Remastered.Mot d'ordre de l'annonce faite aux équipes il y a quelques semaines : "compétitivité".2/10
— Gauthier 'Gautoz' Andres (@gautoz.cool) 2025-07-16T14:45:45.779Z