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Firaxis

Layoffs confirmed at Civilization 7 developer Firaxis

by admin September 6, 2025

Firaxis is the latest developer to be subject to layoffs.

Posts from affected staff began making the rounds on social media last night, with those who helped ship Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ DLC and Civilization 7 impacted.

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Firaxis writer Emma Kidwell shared on LinkedIn: “I was affected by the layoffs at Firaxis, and am open to full time writing work at your studio. I’m an incredibly adaptable writer who wrote on Civilization VII and Marvel’s Midnight Suns during my (nearly) 5 years at the studio, and I encourage you to keep an eye out for my former colleagues who were also laid off.”

While the total number of staff affected is unknown, publisher 2K gave the following statement to our friends over at RPS:

“We can confirm there was a staff reduction today at Firaxis Games, as the studio restructures and optimises its development process for adaptability, collaboration, and creativity.”

I got laid off from Firaxis today. I helped ship Marvel’s Midnight Suns DLC and Civilization VII, and would love to talk to you about mid level Producer roles.

— maya 🧜 (@lightningfused.bsky.social) September 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM

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September 6, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Civilization 7 developers Firaxis have laid off an unspecified number of workers, 2K confirm

by admin September 4, 2025

Civilization 7 developers Firaxis have undergone a “staff reduction” affecting an unspecified number of workers today, publishers 2K have confirmed to RPS.

News of the cuts broke via a series of posts from now former Firaxis writer Emma Kidwell. “I was affected by the layoffs at Firaxis, and am open to full time writing work at your studio,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m an incredibly adaptable writer who wrote on Civilization VII and Marvel’s Midnight Suns during my (nearly) 5 years at the studio, and I encourage you to keep an eye out for my former colleagues who were also laid off.”

Responding to RPS’ outreach about the post, a 2K spokesperson provided the following statement: “We can confirm there was a staff reduction today at Firaxis Games, as the studio restructures and optimizes its development process for adaptability, collaboration, and creativity.”

The spokesperson added that 2K’s policy is not to disclose specifically how many staff are affected by layoffs. The timing of the layoffs seems worth noting, with Kidwell posting not long after Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release arrived and sucked up a lot of attention.

Firaxis have previously laid off staff back in 2023, when 30 employees were let go as part of a wider cost-reduction programme at 2K parent company Take-Two. Since then, Firaxis have released Civilization 7, which garnered mixed reception out of the gate, with players criticising the user interface among other features. Firaxis have worked to release a bunch of updates and patches since, both tweaking areas of the game folks haven’t meshed with, and adding some huge maps.

Greg Costikyan wrote the following in our Civ 7 review:

Civilization 7, as currently constituted, has some real flaws – and though I expect they may be fixed in future updates (and there are workarounds), some of this is a little sloppy. The most basic issue is: combat sucks. Before we get to why, let’s first talk about some of Civilization 7’s big new ideas. It’s pretty clear that the main design concern this time is to address two criticisms of the earlier iterations. In fact, the game is successful on that score.

Our best to the Firaxis staff affected by these layoffs.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Esports

2K confirms a “staff reduction” at Civ and XCOM developer Firaxis

by admin September 4, 2025

2K has confirmed a “reduction” in the headcount at Civilization and XCOM developer Firaxis.

It’s unclear at this time how many developers have been affected by the cuts, but Game Developer suggests the “restructure” impacts “dozens of workers,” several of whom have confirmed the layoffs on LinkedIn.

At the time of writing, neither Firaxis nor 2K acknowledges the layoffs on their social accounts, or detail how the cuts will impact the studio’s most recent release, Civilization 7, which launched in February.

In a statement to Game Developer, a 2K spokesperson confirmed there was a “staff reduction today at Firaxis Games,” as the studio “restructures and optimizes” for “adaptability, collaboration, and creativity.”

The cuts come despite parent company Take-Two Interactive recording a 16% increase in net bookings to $1.42 billion in its first quarter of the fiscal year. This was “significantly above the guidance range” for the period, which was $1.25 billion to $1.3 billion.

This brings the total number of developers who have lost their jobs in 2025 to around 4400, although this figure doesn’t account for instances like today’s cuts at Fireaxis and Dreamhaven where studios have not publicly revealed how many staff were made redundant.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Firaxis Lays Off ‘Dozens’ Of Devs After Civilization VII Struggles

by admin September 4, 2025

2K Games has confirmed that an unspecified number of developers at Firaxis have been laid off following the release of Civilization VII earlier this year. The strategy game struggled with critics and fans when it was released in February.

On September 4, Game Developer reported that layoffs had happened at the long-running strategy game studio Firaxis, famous for developing the recent XCOM games as well as the Civilization franchise. Online, developers posted messages on social media and LinkedIn confirming the layoffs. 2K later confirmed to the outlet that it had indeed let go of numerous workers.

In a statement, a 2K spokesperson told the outlet that it needed to enact “staff reduction” at the studio as the publisher “restructures and optimizes” video game development at Firaxis to increase “adaptability, collaboration, and creativity.” 2K’s statement didn’t confirm how many were laid off as part of this process, but sources with knowledge of the situation told Game Developer that “dozens” of people had been let go at Firaxis.

“Impacted by the Firaxis layoffs today,” posted animator on LinkedIn. “It’s been an amazing 14+ years working with some of the best people, truly.”

“Unfortunately, I was affected by the recent layoffs at Firaxis today,” posted another dev, Erika Ward. “While I am sad to see this chapter close, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with such talented teammates and contribute to a project that truly withstands the test of time.”

This is the latest round of layoffs to hit a 2K-owned studio this year. In August, developers at Cloud Chamber, working on the next Bioshock game, were laid off as part of an effort to downsize the studio. In July, mobile developers at Cat Daddy Games posted online that they had been laid off. This was reportedly not the first round of cuts at the studio in 2025.

The last game from Firaxis before this round of layoffs was Civilization VII, which has sold fairly well, but has failed to connect with fans due to changes made to the series’ structure and pacing. Critics were also mixed on the latest entry in the series. On Steam, the last two Civilization games are more popular based on publicly available data.

Meanwhile, 2K Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive is one of the biggest publishers in the industry. Later this month, it will publish Borderlands 4 through its 2K label. And next year, Take-Two will publish Rockstar’s highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, which is likely to be the biggest game of 2026.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments