505 Games is shutting down its division in Spain, France and Germany amid the current industry turmoil. The publisher announced that after having a presence in these countries for over 15 years, future marketing and publishing will be outsourced to other 505 Games divisions in other regions – namely in the UK.
The job losses due to these closures aren’t as dramatic as we have seen up to now. Less than 10 people will lose their jobs as part of this restructuring. However, it is still sad to see. It also means that 505 Games won’t have any direct presence in these regions and it will affect future planning and releases.
Of course, this covers the upcoming Control 2, Assetto Corsa 2 and the mysterious Project Iron game. All these projects are being published by 505 Games in certain parts of the world.
Although the closure isn’t good news, publishers usually survive without having direct communication in every country. Most publishers don’t have as many divisions around the world as 505 Games, for example. Usually, there’s a US, EU and EMEA division. 505 Games has multiple EU divisions including offices in Denmark, Canada, the United States, China, Japan, Australia and multiple in Italy.
This week has been noticeably rough for gaming. Sony announced it was laying off 900 workers and closing down its London Studio. EA Games also announced layoffs. Both announcements came with the news of cancelled games including the Twisted Metal live-service game and Respawn’s first-person shooter Star Wars game.
