Iron Galaxy Hit With Another Round Of Layoffs As Games Industry Squeeze Gets Worse
Iron Galaxy, the Chicago studio known for co-development, ports, and support work on major game releases, is going through another round of layoffs.
The company announced the cuts on Friday, saying it is reshaping itself to fit what it now sees as the games industry's "new normal." According to Kotaku, as many as 90 employees could be affected, although Iron Galaxy did not immediately confirm a number.
That makes this one more painful blow for a studio that, from the outside at least, looked like it had kept itself relevant by staying attached to big-name projects. Iron Galaxy recently shipped Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 as a remaster collection that landed to positive reviews, but that momentum clearly was not enough to shield it from a rough market.
Iron Galaxy says the old industry model is not coming back
In a LinkedIn post, the studio said the wider business of making games has changed so much since 2020 that waiting for things to "go back to normal" no longer makes sense.
Its message was pretty blunt. Player habits have shifted, publishers are being more selective with where money goes, and partners across the industry are feeling that pressure too. Iron Galaxy said it can no longer support the team size it carried over the past year, even after a previous downsizing.
That last part is what stings most. This is not the studio's first major cut.
Back in early 2025, Iron Galaxy said it had reduced its workforce by 66 employees, describing that move as a last resort meant to protect the company's long-term survival. At the time, it still had enough co-development work to keep going, including support on the PC version of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
Now, even that was apparently not enough.
A long-running support studio under pressure
Founded in 2008, Iron Galaxy built its reputation as a work-for-hire studio that could help other developers ship games across platforms and across the finish line. Its credits include major franchises like Killer Instinct, the Batman: Arkham series, and Borderlands.
It also tried to break out with its own original project. In 2022, alongside Epic Games, the studio released Rumbleverse, a live-service wrestling multiplayer title. The game shut down within its first year, a big setback for any team trying to prove it can do more than support work.
There were leadership changes too. PlayStation veteran Adam Boyes left his co-CEO role in 2024.
Put all that together, and this latest round of layoffs feels less like one bad month and more like a studio still trying to survive several years of industry turbulence.
Why Malaysian and SEA players should care
For players here in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia, this matters more than it might seem at first glance. Studios like Iron Galaxy are often the hidden backbone behind ports, remasters, and technical support on the games we actually buy. When co-dev teams get cut, it can affect polish, performance, update speed, and how quickly games reach more platforms.
It is also another reminder that even experienced teams with big franchise credits are not safe right now. That is important in SEA, where many devs, outsource teams, and support studios are also tied closely to publisher budgets and external contracts. When big companies spend less, the squeeze hits everybody down the chain.
So yeah, this is not just one American studio having a bad week. It is another sign that the wider games business is still unstable, and even solid mid-sized teams are being forced to shrink just to stay alive.
Source: Kotaku
