NetherRealm Studios was not spared from the layoffs either, as it was their mobile team that lost their jobs.

Two of the former developers have spoken out on LinkedIn. They told us that at least fifty people were laid off. A former Quality Assurance Analyst, Tony Lazzara, wrote the following: “Unfortunately, Netherrealm’s mobile team was shut down yesterday. A lot of very talented people were put out of work. We had live services on several titles including Mortal Kombat Mobile, Injustice 2, and Mortal Kombat Onslaught. I was affected as well. Every single person I’ve worked with on that team is an amazing collaborator, passionate and very creative.

And one animator, Elizabeth Ramirez, lost her job after a decade: “It pains me to announce that I have been let go from NetherRealm Studios after working there for about 10 years. Thank you to the team members who took the time to help me grow as an animator over the years. A new demo reel and resume will be on the way. For now, this is a lot to process mentally and I need some time to clear my head.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has not yet commented on the matter, despite being contacted by Gamesindustry. It was certainly their typical decision: Is it making money? If not, it should be shut down. That’s probably the whole story behind it, as WBD is really pushing hard for the live service model, which may not be working very well for them on mobile, so they’re cutting it for the usual boring cost efficiency reasons.

The state of the gaming industry is also reflected in these cuts, and so it is true that once a week we usually hear about X number of people being laid off from Y and Z studios or companies. Especially Microsoft is in the hot seat, because they’ve laid off thousands of people. The question is, who will be next?

Source: Gamesindustry, LinkedIn, LinkedIn