"The games industry bloodletting continues. Today, Visual Concepts Austin laid off myself and a group of very talented developers."
2K Games has laid off a group of developers at Lego 2K Drive and NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts Austin, adding to the onslaught of job cuts that has decimated the game industry and the lives of developers across 2023 and 2024.
Two people impacted by the layoffs shared the news on Linkedin and indicated that a "group of very talented developers" have lost their jobs.
"The games industry bloodletting continues. Today, Visual Concepts Austin laid off myself and a group of very talented developers. I have had a great time over the past couple of years working with some of the finest game devs in the industry," said former art manager Brad Bowling.
"Over the past 23 years of making game art, I have seen some downturns but nothing like this. If anyone is in need of someone with my 'particular set of skills' please reach out."
The news was corroborated by Visual Concepts' former associate software engineer, Sydney F, who added that "several other amazing colleagues" have been laid off.
"Well after a great year of working at Visual Concepts Austin it's sad to say I've been laid off as of today along with several other amazing colleagues. I will miss all of those that I worked with greatly," they wrote. "It's definitely rough as it's only been a year and a half since I was previously laid off as well. Even in this tough market I found a job once I can hopefully do it again."
This looks to be the second round of layoffs at Visual Concepts Austin in under six months. There were reports of cuts across numerous departments in September 2023, and now it seems parent company 2K Games (itself owned by Take-Two Interactive) has continued culling its workforce.
2K purchased Visual Concepts Austin, then known as HookBang, for an undisclosed fee in March 2021. At the time, 2K said the studio would bolster its publishing business while providing engineering support for the NBA 2K franchise. It claimed it wanted to hire "hundreds of developers" to deliver those goals.
Game Developer has reached out to 2K Games for more information about the layoffs.
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