Smilegate Barcelona it seems to be in closurewith all the employees that have been firedaccording to what a member of the team himself, director Stephane Blais, reported on his LinkedIn page.
“With our industry becoming more and more like a battleship, it's our turn to get hit,” wrote the ex-Eidos Montreal and Ubisoft man. “Smilegate Barcelona closes, all employees have been fired,” he wrote very clearly.
There is still no official communication from the main division of Smilegate, which is based in South Korea, but this move would have practically closed a large part of the European division.
Eliminated the European division of the Korean company?
Smilegate Barcelona, the logo
“The last 6 months have been very intense, but they have allowed me to discover a truly fantastic and passionate team,” Blais later wrote, “All of them have worked hard to try to save the studio, but now I'm open to new work” .
Also Edward Albertproject manager within the team, seems to confirm the matter: “Well, our journey in Smilegate Barcelona is over”, he also wrote on LinkedIn, “I really enjoyed my time here, working with fantastic people and with the chance to improve my skills, now it's time to look for the next adventure.”
We are therefore awaiting confirmation on the matter, but it seems that the Spanish division of Smilegate is also another victim of the numerous layoffs in the videogame industry, which in recent months alone have affected Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts and many others, with around 8,000 jobs lost in the first months of 2024 alone.