Co-development services specialist Virtuous has confirmed rumours that it’s making hundreds of layoffs across its workforce, with around 200 roles in Asia and 70 in Europe affected. This amounts to approximately 7% of its global headcount.
In a statement, the company said it’s “evolving to meet the needs of [its] partners and the industry”, saying it’s “realigning [its] global footprint and capabilities”.
The word “rebalancing” is how the company put the changes, with teams affected “facing lower occupancy and slower demand due to structural shifts in the industry”. Fewer than ten employees in France, where the core Oblivion Remastered team is based, were affected by the cuts according to the studio.
Virtuous explains the disproportionately high layoffs in Asia as being the result of declining demand for certain services and aligning with client locations.
“Over the past 12 months, Virtuos has deepened its commitment to premium co-development through key acquisitions of Beyond-FX, Pipeworks, and Umanaïa in North America, as well as Third Kind Games and Abstraction in Europe,” it said in a statement.
“These studios enhance our strengths in VFX, design, Unreal Engine programming, and creative development. This ongoing investment reflects our intent to grow in areas where our expertise and scale create lasting value, while selectively exiting service segments where demand is weakening.
“We need to better match the locations of our teams with those of our clients to support the increasingly iterative nature of creative co-development. This alignment is why the current reorganisation has a greater impact on our teams in Asia.”
Work continues on its existing partnerships, which include continued work on announced games like Oblivion Remastered, Cyberpunk 2077 updates, and the upcoming Konami collaboration Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater
Affected staff will be supported with “separation packages, career transition assistance, and opportunities for redeployment across [its] global where possible”.

Roblox has unveiled its new licensing platform, which enables intellectual properties to be licensed for use by Roblox creators in a highly simplified fashion, bypassing the lengthy process that negotiating games based on IP usually entails.
Already on-board with the program are Sega, Netflix, Lionsgate, and Kodansha. Plans are afoot to onboard more IP holders in the months ahead.
Sega is making its Like A Dragon available to licence, while Netflix is offering the massively successful TV shows Squid Game and Stranger Things. Hollywood studio Lionsgate brings the four movie series Divergent, Now You See Me, Saw, and Twilight to the platform. Kodansha will debut two of its manga titles soon.
The two key components of the platform are the Roblox License Manager and the Licenses catalogue. The goal is to provide media licensing at scale, according to Roblox, with IP holders being able to “self-serve” as their properties are integrated into experiences.
Rights holders can use the License Manager to dictate licensing terms, including how their IP is used, content maturity, and revenue share. Roblox is giving IP holders the option to take a tailored approach when it comes to revenue sharing, or offer licences more openly. They can also scan for IP usage across existing experiences.
Developers, meanwhile, can browse and apply to get licences in the catalogue.
As pointed out by Game Developer, the terms of use and revenue split varies depending on the licence. With Like A Dragon, for example, Sega only takes a 50% cut of Robux revenue (after all platform fees), but requires creators to have a 1,000 daily active user minimum to obtain the licence in the first instance.
The terms of using the licence, too, require hewing closely to the world, story, and characters of the Like A Dragon games, so it’s not a free-for-all.
Netflix, meanwhile, has no user minimum but creators only get 15% of Robux spent on their experiences.
Roblox’s announcement points out that the initiative is part of its goal to have 10% of all gaming content revenue running through its ecosystem. As well as more licence holders joining up, it’s exploring new types of licences to add to the platform.

The FBI has seized Nintendo Switch piracy site, Nsw2u, as “part of a law enforcement operation.”
The site – which hosted illegal Switch ROMs for players using emulators and hacked Nintendo systems – now sports a banner that states it was “seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in accordance with a seizure warrant issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 2323 issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia as part of a law enforcement operation and action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation” (thanks, Kotaku).
Dutch organization the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) – a government agency of the Netherlands responsible for investigating financial crimes – was also involved in the seizure.
It follows similar legal action from Nintendo against similar sites like Yuzu and Tropic Haze.
Last month, Nintendo reportedly banned Switch 2 players from using its online services after using the MIG Switch, a flash cartridge that can store pirated game files.
In May, Nintendo revised its Account Agreement and Account Privacy Policy to tighten the rules on emulation and piracy. The new guidelines, which reflect over 100 changes between the last version and this update, went into force on May 7.
Before the changes, US players had to agree that they “are not allowed to lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo’s written consent, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law.” This section has since been greatly extended in the new US agreement.