Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden underperformed commercially, leading Don’t Nod to make staffing cuts in its Montreal studio.

Don’t Nod has joined the long list of studios facing layoffs in the games industry. While the company has not officially announced how many employees were let go, several former staffers revealed the news through LinkedIn. Mary Pouliot, principal cinematic artist, wrote: “Today, I was part of the layoff wave at Don’t Nod Montréal. Although I was anticipating this dreadful industry trend, it came as a real shock. I did not expect it when I woke up and went to the studio this morning. But there it is. I’m no longer a cinematic artist at Don’t Nod Montréal.”

Laurent Dufresne, a technical artist, also shared his experience: “The omnipresent waves of layoffs in our industry finally caught up with us after the release of Bloom and Rage. Sadly, while we managed what feels like a miracle, given the circumstances, it wasn’t enough to keep our relatively small team intact, and a significant portion of it was lost today.” Sandra Cormier (lead QA and lead tester) and Mathieu Tremblay (lead game and level designer) were among those affected as well.

Cormier wrote that she had learned a great deal over the past three years in her QA leadership role and cherished being part of such a wonderful team. Tremblay echoed the sentiment: “I’m incredibly proud of what the Don’t Nod Montréal team achieved with Lost Records: Bloom and Rage. Shipping a game of this quality under such challenging conditions was nothing short of a miracle.”

The layoffs come less than a year after Don’t Nod announced it would temporarily pause development on two of its in-progress games, citing the disappointing commercial performance of Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden despite strong critical reception. While the company has not officially commented, the French union Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) reported that nine employees were laid off from Don’t Nod Montréal, and seven more were temporarily suspended to cut costs.

The union previously criticized Don’t Nod’s leadership for what it described as disastrous management decisions and condemned the layoff plans at the company’s Paris studio last October.

Source: PCGamer, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, Bsky