Gotham Knights developer Warner Bros Games Montreal slashes 99 jobs
Warner Bros. Games Montreal, the developer behind Gotham Knights and Batman: Arkham Origins, has laid off 99 developers.
Whilst the firm has not publicly confirmed the layoffs, Radio-Canada (thanks, Game Developer) reports 99 roles have been impacted, most of which work as subcontractors for its quality assurance team. It’s thought a third of WB Games Montreal’s Keywords employees have been affected.
The studio had most recently been supporting Rocksteady with additional content for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
According to anonymous sources who didn’t want to be identified for fear of reprisal, staff were called to a video conference meeting on Monday, where the cuts were announced. Impacted colleagues were then invited to a separate call during which they were asked to choose between job hunting support or being placed on a recall list as and when the studio would pick up more work. The studio did stress, however, that this was unlikely to happen before 2026.
Colleagues impacted by the cuts told the news site they felt “stressed and depressed”, especially to those with “families who are affected by this announcement and who are preparing to celebrate Christmas”.
The redundancies were announced on the same day it was confirmed that the beleagued Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would see no further new content beyond its fourth post-launch season, which is now officially its last.
Earlier this week, Outriders developer People Can Fly also announced its second round of layoffs in less than a year, this time affecting “more than 120” people. The move accompanies the cancellation or downsizing of several projects, with the studio blaming “external market pressures”.
