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Pinball FX dev Zen Studios lays off 32 employees

The Budapest studio becomes another developer caught up in Embracer's months long restructuring program.

Justin Carter, Contributing Editor

October 18, 2023

1 Min Read
Screenshot of Zen Studios' Pinball FX.
Image taken from the game's Steam page.

Layoffs have hit Zen Studios, the developer best known for Pinball FX and other licensed pinball games. 

On October 14, community manager Adam Dienes revealed he had been let go the previous day alongside "more than 30 other colleagues. The video game downsizing caught up with me too," he wrote on X. 

The developer's LinkedIn page lists 83 employees, meaning its staff has now been cut by nearly half.

Zen Studios was acquired by Embracer in 2020, which has been on a mass layoff spree for months. The cuts are owed to the collapse of a deal with Savvy Games, believed to be valued at $2 billion.

After the deal fell through, Embracer enacted a restructuring program that's seen several projects get canceled, jobs cut at numerous studios it acquired fairly recently, and some studios close down altogether.

An Embracer spokesperson reiterated its restructuring program to GamesIndustry, repeating that it would see "the closing of studios and termination of projects." Layoffs have recently affected other Embracer subsidiaries, notably Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios.

About the Author

Justin Carter

Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com

A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.

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