Skydance Interactive was formed back in 2016 to make virtual reality games, including 2024’s Behemoth, a VR action-adventure with shades of The Legend of Zelda and Shadow of the Colossus. The gaming division is now laying off scores of developers just a month after its parent company merged with Warner Bros.
Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media were both merged into a new entity called Paramount Games over the summer. The gaming portfolio consisted of licensed collaborations like TMNT: The Last Ronin and Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game as well as a brand-new “dark academia” RPG that was still unannounced.
“Game announcements are always exciting, especially when it’s an all-new, original IP,” associate design director David Ballard wrote at the time. “Super excited to be building this world from the ground up with the team!”
Just four months later, he and many others have been laid off amid ongoing restructurings following David Ellison’s merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. “My chapter with Skydance and Paramount came to an end today with a layoff. I’m super grateful for the opportunities I was given the past almost 4.5 years,” Ballard wrote over the weekend. “It’s a sad day for several of my coworkers who were also affected.”
Many other laid-off staff shared the news on LinkedIn as well. “In this tumultuous climate, it’s hard to find great talent and collaborators to help build your next team and game,” lead engineer David Vera, who wasn’t impacted himself, wrote. “The Skydance crew wasn’t let go because of performance or problematic behaviors. These are all extremely worthy folks who were pushing themselves to the limit to try to make something they could all be proud of.”
He mentioned over 27 people by name in his post, and Insider Gaming reports that at least 30 people at Paramount Games were impacted. It’s unclear if anyone on the Warner Bros. side was cut as well, or what this will mean for the company’s existing projects. “Games are no longer an extension of the business; they’re a core driver of storytelling, community and growth across Paramount,” Skydance VP Tony Driscoll told Variety back in June. He now oversees Warner Bros. Games as well.
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