Indie Publisher Thunderful To Lay Off 20% Of Its Workforce

Thunderful Group, a company group that includes the developer behind SteamWorld Build, and publishers of a huge number of indie games, has announced a restructuring that will see around 20% off its staff laid off.

2023 was a terrible year for layoffs in the games industry, and less than a month in, 2024 is already following a similar trend, with major layoffs at both Discord and Twitch in the last week. Just the latest company to announce impending layoffs, Thunderful Group is a Swedish company whose subsidiaries develop, publish, and distribute games and related products.

“The [restructuring] program aims at lowering costs and increasing focus on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects,” Thunderful’s statement reads. “Actions will include both significant staff reductions and evaluation of divestment of non-strategic assets.”

The statement goes on to say that roughly 20% of Thunderful’s workforce will be impacted, with the company reporting that it has close to 500 employees across 30 subsidiaries.

“The need for Thunderful to enact these changes stems primarily from over-investments made in the last few years,” the statement continues, echoing multiple companies that have recently scaled back after over-investing during the pandemic-led gaming boom. “These investments have proven unsustainable given the current industry climate, which has resulted in the Group being particularly affected by challenging market conditions.”

“It has been difficult to make these decisions, and it saddens me that we will have to say goodbye to many skilled colleagues and partners,” CEO Martin Walfisz said in a statement. “Nevertheless, I am convinced that this is a necessary direction for Thunderful and that these changes will make the company a stronger player in the market.”