The bad news just won't end. As has now become known, publisher 505 Games has also been hit, and is set to close several branches as part of restructuring.
Just acted as publisher for the remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and sold the rights to Control back to Remedy for 17 million and is already in the headlines again today, but not because of good news.
Based on a report from the Spanish colleagues at Gamereactor, 505 Games is slimming down significantly. As part of ongoing restructuring by the parent company Digital Bros., most of the publisher's European branches are now apparently being closed. The only exceptions are the headquarters in Milan and the British branch. The offices in Germany, France and Spain, however, will be closed.
Digital Bros. and 505 Games are following the path of centralization that has already been followed by many publishers in recent months, including Electronic Arts and 2K. The only consolation is that not quite as many staff will be affected as at other companies. We are currently talking about a maximum of ten employees who are losing their jobs.
Digital Bros. had already slimmed down significantly last year and cut around 30 percent of its workforce, including at 505 Games. At the time it was said:
“The video game market has evolved since the pandemic and is more selective when it comes to new games. Consumers are increasingly turning to trusted brands and playing these games for longer periods of time. In order to prioritize high quality and long-standing successful titles, Digital Bros . will reconsider the number of projects under development and will accordingly revise the organizational structure to adapt it to the evolving competitive environment in the medium to long term to ensure maximum operational efficiency in the medium to long term.”
Well, the closure of the branches is likely to be part of the new organizational structure, which now apparently includes centralized PR and marketing departments.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake – Launch-Trailer zum Release der Neuauflage
The remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is available now for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.