nDreams, one of the world’s most experienced VR studios, announced today that it will be tightening its belt with a wave of layoffs that will affect 17.5% of the company.
The studio, based in Farnborough, England, argues in its LinkenIn announcement that the layoffs are in response to “the challenging VR gaming market within a challenging gaming landscape in general.”
The studio also states that the restructuring “will enable us to better serve current and future audiences by creating media-defining titles for years to come.”
Founded in 2013, nDreams has expanded beyond game development into a publisher, opening a number of first-party VR studios including nDreams Studio Orbital, nDreams Studio Elevation, and Nearlight; the latter of which was acquired by nDreams in late 2022.
In 2023, Stockholm, Sweden-based gaming group Aonic acquired nDreams for $110 million. The studio said at the time that it employed 250 people, meaning the layoffs could affect up to 40 people.
nDreams, in particular, is known for its numerous VR games over the years, including: Parliament (2016), Ghost: Black Ops (2020), Cracked (2021), And Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (2023), and more.
Studio takes note of upcoming titles madness And Vendetta Forever will not be affected by the restructuring.
While sad, the news of layoffs comes as little surprise given the turmoil in the broader games market. The layoffs, spanning 2023 and 2024, include a number of top publishers and studios, including Embracer Group, Unity, Microsoft, EA, Sony, Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Riot Games.
In particular, the closure of VR studios has affected Meta's Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo, Echo VR), Sony's London Studio (PlayStation Worlds, Blood and Truth (2019), and independent developer Archiact (Doom 3 VR Edition).