The storied Japanese developer and publisher of franchises like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy is the next to join the spree of layoffs that continue to permeate the gaming industry.
According to a report from IGN on Thursday, Square Enix is laying off large portions of its remaining Western teams, which includes publishing staff in the U.S. and the U.K. The exact number of workers being laid off is not confirmed, but up to 137 staff in the U.K. could be affected.
The goal of these layoffs are to slim down publishing operations outside of Japan, with Square Enix focusing more on its Japanese games.
This comes as Square Enix has systematically whittled down its Western gaming division over the past several years, letting Hitman developer IO Interactive go independent, and selling its remaining Western studios to Embracer Group, including Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.
Despite no longer internally developing games with U.S. or European studios, Square Enix had continued to maintain a Western publishing division, publishing games like the first PowerWash Simulator (the sequel is notably being self-published by developer FuturLab) and the narrative-focused Life is Strange franchise.
This layoff news comes at the same time as Square Enix confirming to investors in a public report that it is "streamlining" many operations, consolidating an "overly layered and segmented organizational structure" in order to deliver savings of over 3 billion Yen, or just under $20 million USD.
