MercurySteam, the Spanish studio behind Metroid Dread and Blades of Fire, has announced a workforce reduction process. The company shared the decision in a LinkedIn post, but did not say how many employees will be affected. The timing is rough, because the studio has already been dealing with weak sales expectations, renewed crunch allegations, and reports of a toxic workplace culture.
Another round of cuts has reached the Spanish video game industry, and this time the name involved is MercurySteam. The Madrid-based studio has earned international attention in recent years through several notable projects: Metroid Dread gave it major visibility among Nintendo players, while Blades of Fire was its more recent attempt at a larger action title under its own spotlight. Now, however, the studio is not being discussed because of a new reveal, a content update, or a successful milestone. It is in the news because it has officially begun reducing staff.
The announcement was made through LinkedIn, where the studio opened with a direct acknowledgement of the situation: “There’s no easy way to share this kind of news, but today we must announce that MercurySteam has begun a workforce reduction process.” The company added that such decisions may be common in the production cycles of the video game industry, but that does not make them any less difficult or painful. MercurySteam expressed respect, gratitude, and support for the affected workers, describing their talent, effort, and commitment as an important part of the studio’s history.
The company also says it wants to help those professionals find new opportunities. Other developers currently looking for staff are being asked to contact MercurySteam by email, so the studio can share contact information and additional professional details about the laid-off employees. The message ends by saying that, over the coming weeks, the company will focus on managing the process with responsibility, humanity, and respect for everyone involved.
That careful official tone does not answer the most obvious question. MercurySteam has not revealed how many people are losing their jobs, and that missing detail leaves the real scale of the cut unclear. The announcement also lands in a context that was already uncomfortable for the studio.
MercurySteam Has Faced Renewed Accusations Over Its Workplace Culture
The last few months have not been good for MercurySteam. Sales of Blades of Fire reportedly failed to meet the expectations of publisher 505 Games, while the studio once again found itself surrounded by allegations of crunch and a toxic work environment. This is not the first time the company has faced criticism from employees. Reports about working conditions at the studio already made headlines in 2021, and the subject returned in 2025 after the release of Blades of Fire, when new complaints appeared and were later complicated by comments from an internal group defending the company.
3DJuegos investigated the situation by speaking with ten MercurySteam employees. According to those accounts, the studio’s working environment had seriously deteriorated. Employees described a toxic atmosphere and referred to a practice of playing on fear because “there’s nowhere else to go”. In that context, the layoff announcement feels heavier than a routine production-cycle adjustment. It is happening around a studio that was already facing serious questions about how it treats its own staff.
Meanwhile, MercurySteam is still moving forward with its current plans. Blades of Fire is scheduled to launch on Steam on May 14, accompanied by a 2.0 version that will bring improvements and new features. That may give the game some renewed momentum, but it does not make the studio’s position any simpler. MercurySteam now has to improve the reception of Blades of Fire, deal with the aftermath of workplace allegations, and manage a reduction process whose exact size remains unknown. This is no longer just the afterlife of one underperforming game. It is the story of a studio with more and more visible cracks around it.
Source: 3DJuegos
