Humble Games lays off staff in restructuring effort [Update]

Independent games publishing label Humble Games has laid off staff in an effort to restructure operations, the company said.

While Humble Games did not share official numbers regarding the staff let go, now-former senior quality assurance lead Emilee Kieffer said the entirety of the label was laid off, while Polygon reporter Nicole Carpenter reports that 36 staff were laid off. According to its LinkedIn page, Humble Games is made up of 11 to 50 staff.

A representative for Humble Games told Gematsu that it will not be shutting down, and that ongoing projects and upcoming releases are not affected and will continue to be supported and published by Humble Games.

Get the full statement from Humble Games below.

In these challenging economic times for indie game publishing, Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations. This decision was not made lightly; it involved much deliberation and careful thought, with the goal of ensuring the stability and support of our developers and ongoing projects. Additionally, the restructuring of operations at Humble Games will have no impact on operations at Humble Bundle.

We are acutely aware of the profound impact this decision has on our team members at Humble Games and deeply empathize with everyone affected. Our team’s contributions have been world-class and invaluable, supporting the launch of our games since we started publishing in 2017. We are committed to navigating this transition with as much empathy and understanding as possible.

Supporting our development partners and assisting former team members remains our top priority. We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Thank you for your support and compassion during this challenging period. It is deeply appreciated.

Update 9:30 p.m.: Speaking to Aftermath on condition of anonymity, a former employee said all of Humble Games’ staff were laid off.

“[Humble Games parent company] Ziff [Davis] is trying to spread the idea that it’s a restructuring to save face, but that’s a lie,” the former employee said. “No one from [Humble Games] survived the layoffs, nor will they have anything to do with game launches moving forward.”

Posting on LinkedIn, former Humble Games creative lead Chris Radley, who left the company at the end of 2022, added the following:

“Operations have been handed off to a third party consultancy. NO staff are left. Do not believe this tailored message written by the parent company of Humble Games, Ziff Davis, who are trying to mitigate pushback. This was once again a failure of leadership across the board, and once again hard working talented staff are paying the cost for their poor decisions. Every ex-employee is being gaslit by this narrative, and it’s so disrespectful.”