Virtuos, the support team behind big games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater remake, is the latest in a sad line of developers releasing a successful project and being rewarded with layoffs. The studio is reportedly cutting about 300 people, news which arrives just hours after the team announced the work it had been doing on the latest Cyberpunk 2077 patch set to launch tomorrow.
News first broke when Gauthier Andres, a reporter for the French-language publication Origami, revealed the studio would be culling about seven percent of its staff. The team had 4,200 employees across multiple countries, including the U.S., China, Ireland, Singapore, and France. According to Origami, most of the layoffs are in the company’s Chinese subsidiary. As a support studio, Virtuos has done a lot of work on games ranging from the aforementioned Oblivion remaster to other port projects like Hogwarts Legacy, Nier Automata, and Horizon Forbidden West.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was one of 2025’s biggest surprises when it shadow-dropped back in April, and Virtuos took a lot of care in sprucing up the 2006 original while also preserving some of the nostalgic jank. The team just announced a new update for the remaster last week, and was on stream earlier today with CD Projekt Red to talk about Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.3 update which brings new customization options and photo mode features to the five-year-old game. Working on big success stories isn’t enough to save you from the wave of layoffs plaguing the video game industry in 2025, but that’s nothing new. One of the most infamous examples occurred last year, when Tango Gameworks was shut down after releasing the successful rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush, even as Xbox said the game was still meeting its internal expectations. The studio was thankfully revived, but it’s kinda fucked up that we keep hearing that companies are releasing profitable video games but can’t seem to retain their employees. Almost makes the whole system sound made up, huh?
Update, 7/18/25, 8:45 a.m.: Virtuos released a statement on its website confirming the layoffs, which impact “200 roles in Asia and 70 roles in Europe, including fewer than 10 in France.” The post says that these cuts come as part of an “ongoing investment [that] reflects our intent to grow in areas where our expertise and scale create lasting value, while selectively exiting service segments where demand is weakening.” Basically, the company is saying it’s cutting jobs in territories where it has fewer partners to work with given its status primarily as a co-development studio.
Affected employees are receiving a separation package, career transition assistance, and at least some will be transferred to other roles within the company “where possible.” The statement also says that the Virtuos is still working on projects like Oblivion Remastered, Cyberpunk 2077 patches, and Metal Gear Solid Delta.