We’ve reported on a surprising volume of layoffs and outright closures of Gameloft studios in recent months, and now company chief Michel Guillemot says they’re the result of an ‘ambitious cost reduction program’ instituted in the wake of 2015 losses for Gameloft.
The French company publishes its half-year earnings report this week, recording a loss of €16.6 million (~$18.73 million USD) for the six months ending June 30th, 2015.
“This first-half loss is due to the seasonality of our business as well as to the disappointing level of revenues achieved by the three games developed by Gameloft specifically for the Japanese and Chinese markets,” Gullemot stated in the report.
“In order to return to profitability in the second half of 2015, and to past profitability levels in the medium term, Gameloft has initiated an ambitious cost reduction program since the start of the year and in the process closed seven development studios that had become unprofitable.”
Among those seven were Gameloft New York City, which abruptly shut down in July after 15 years of operation, and Gameloft Tokyo, which was gutted this summer after releasing its debut game. Gamasutra has reached out to Gameloft representatives for further details on the other studios which have been shut down.
If you or someone you know was affected by Gameloft’s cost reduction program this year you can email Gamasutra to tell your story confidentially.
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