Sandsoft, a cell developer headquartered in Saudi Arabia, is closing its studios in Riyadh and Barcelona, Spain, whereas shedding round 65 staff within the course of.
First reported by MobileGamer.Biz earlier right now, the layoffs are affecting round 40 employees members in Barcelona and 25 in Riyadh. The outlet was informed that the job cuts are affecting staff engaged on internally developed video games, whereas these working in publishing are protected. The studio is wanting into transitioning among the affected members into the latter, however there is not any affirmation as of but.
“Sandsoft is doubling down on publishing, an space of our enterprise the place we’ve already demonstrated important progress and see important alternatives for future success,” Sandsoft CEO David Fernández informed MobileGamer.
“As a part of this strategic shift, we’ve made the tough determination to shut our inside studios in Barcelona and Riyadh. We deeply respect the staff’s creativity and dedication, and we’re totally dedicated to supporting everybody via this transition.”
A spokesperson added that the choice “is not in regards to the high quality of labor or expertise at these studios,” and that “it is actually about concentrating our assets the place we will have the largest affect and construct sustainable progress.” As such, the staff will now be concentrating solely on publishing.
Sandsoft nonetheless has two places of work in Finland and China
As reported by PocketGamer.Biz, Sandsoft signed three new video games as lately as March of this 12 months. Again then, the studio additionally mentioned it had “a number of extra” video games in testing and scheduled to launch all year long.
The Riyadh studio is closing merely three years after opening, whereas the Barcelona studio was opened in 2023. Earlier that very same 12 months, Fernández spoke to MobileGamer.Biz a few plan to grow to be a mega writer.
“Our ambition is to be a frontrunner within the cell video games trade, from our area to the world, in the identical method that you’ve got within the U.S. not simply cell, however bigger organizations —you might have the Activisions, you might have the Take-Twos, you might have Digital Arts,” Fernández mentioned. “Trying to China, you might have Tencent and you’ve got NetEase. We need to be a kind of.”
