Tencent-owned Swedish developer Sharkmob, which introduced in October that the supernatural battle royale Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt might be taken offline in April 2026, says it is going to lay off an unspecified variety of staff as a part of “deliberate modifications to its organizational construction.” The studio mentioned Exoborne, the “tactical open world extraction shooter” introduced throughout The Recreation Awards 2023, stays in growth.
In an announcement to GamesIndustry, Sharkmob mentioned the layoffs will enable it to “sharpen our focus and align our efforts on the continued growth of Exoborne and place us for sustainable progress.” Exoborne held its first playtest in January and confirmed some promise, however a launch date hasn’t but been introduced.
Tencent vice chairman Yong-yi Zhu advised GamesIndustry in September that the corporate has “no plans in the mean time to tug out” of its vital funding in Western studios, which lately expanded to incorporate a new three way partnership with Ubisoft known as Vantage Studios. However he additionally warned that “you may even see a discount in funding in sure locations,” which he mentioned “is simply the realities of the business and the dynamics of the business.”
Tencent is not the one Chinese language sport firm to take that view: NetEase has ended funding for a half-dozen studios based mostly within the US and Canada over the previous yr, just some years after making main investments to extend its footprint within the area. In a February report, Niko Companions director of analysis and insights Daniel Ahmad attributed the NetEase cuts largely to the success of video games like Black Fantasy: Wukong, Genshin Influence, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Wuthering Waves, which demonstrated that builders based mostly in China might obtain outcomes akin to Western outfits at a fraction of the associated fee.
