The video game industry shed hundreds of roles in February 2026, with Electronic Arts, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Riot Games, and Ubisoft all announcing cuts within a two-week span. Sony permanently shuttered Bluepoint Games, eliminating 70 positions. Riot cut approximately 160 roles across its publishing division and 2XKO team. EA restructured its Full Circle studio developing Skate, and Ubisoft reduced 40 staff at its Toronto location while pursuing a broader voluntary departure plan. Industry trackers recorded 2,374 affected roles across 41 events through mid-February 2026.
EA Layoffs at Full Circle Studio
Full Circle, the Vancouver-area studio developing the long-awaited Skate reboot, announced structural changes on February 25, 2026, stating that roles would be impacted to support the game's long-term development. Electronic Arts, Full Circle's parent company, confirmed the layoffs as part of efforts to streamline operations after Skate attracted 15 million players in under three weeks post-launch.
Developer posts on social media indicated multiple staff members were affected, though EA provided no specific headcount. The studio emphasized continued commitment to Skate despite the reductions, positioning the restructuring as a recalibration for ongoing live-service development rather than a wind-down.
Skate's player numbers — 15 million in three weeks — would normally signal commercial success. The layoffs arriving simultaneously suggest EA treated the launch milestone as the threshold at which to restructure development costs for what it expects to be a long live-service cycle.
Sony Closes Bluepoint Games
Sony Interactive Entertainment shuttered Bluepoint Games on February 19, 2026, leading to 70 layoffs primarily at its Austin, Texas facility. The closure followed a business review and more than a year without a secured project after the studio failed to obtain the Bloodborne remake assignment or other PlayStation spinoff duties.
Bluepoint had contributed significantly to early PlayStation 5 titles, including the critically acclaimed Demon's Souls remake that launched alongside the console in 2020. Sony terminated operations amid broader studio adjustments across the PlayStation portfolio.
Bluepoint built its reputation on high-fidelity remakes — Demon's Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico. The closure ends a studio that had become synonymous with PlayStation's back-catalog preservation effort at a moment when that strategy appears to have deprioritized dedicated remake studios.
Riot Games Layoffs in Publishing and 2XKO Divisions
Riot Games laid off around 80 employees in its publishing division on February 26, 2026, representing half of the global team across three units. This followed 80 cuts to the 2XKO fighting game team on February 9, 2026, just three weeks after the game's launch, for a reported monthly total of approximately 92 positions.
Riot stated that development on 2XKO would continue despite the reductions. The back-to-back cuts — first to the game team weeks after launch, then to publishing — compressed significant restructuring into a single month across two distinct operational areas.
Cutting half the 2XKO team three weeks after launch is an unusual sequencing. It suggests Riot assessed early engagement data rapidly and made a structural decision about the game's commercial trajectory before the typical post-launch evaluation window closed.
Ubisoft Restructuring Hits Toronto Studio
Ubisoft laid off 40 staff at Ubisoft Toronto on February 19, 2026, as part of a second major restructuring within a year. The cuts followed a February 12, 2026 voluntary departure plan aiming to reduce 200 corporate positions.
At least 1,200 Ubisoft workers participated in strikes protesting the changes, with 538 officially reported on February 12, 2026. The actions accompanied project cancellations including two Assassin's Creed mobile titles, signaling continued contraction in Ubisoft's development footprint following a difficult 2025.
Total Video Game Layoffs Tracked for February 2026
Layoff trackers documented multiple events across the month, with activity concentrated in the final two weeks of February 2026:
2,374
Roles affected through February 16, 2026
41
Layoff events tracked through mid-February
~900
Roles cut in January 2026 (full month)
5,000+
Cuts recorded industry-wide in 2025
28%
GDC respondents who experienced layoffs in prior two years
33%
U.S.-based GDC respondents who experienced layoffs
Through February 16, 2026, trackers had recorded 41 situations affecting 2,374 roles industry-wide. Early February tallied 32 events impacting 2,015 jobs, with the second half of the month accelerating the pace.
Gaming Industry Layoff Context Through Early 2026
The GDC 2026 State of the Game Industry survey of over 2,300 professionals found 28 percent experienced layoffs in the past two years, rising to 33 percent for U.S. respondents. January 2026 recorded under 900 cuts, a lower figure than the prior year's trajectory.
With 5,000-plus cuts recorded in 2025, projections estimated 7,952 additional roles through the remainder of 2026 — for a projected yearly total of approximately 10,326. If the February pace holds, that estimate will need upward revision.
The February cluster — EA, Sony, Riot, and Ubisoft all moving within a two-week window — aligns with the post-holiday earnings cycle, when Q3 financial results are finalized and studios reset headcount targets for the calendar year.