Eidos Montreal, the developer behind Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and the Deus Ex series, has been hit with another round of layoffs, marking another in a recent string of setbacks for the studio. This latest employee shakeup marks the third consecutive year Eidos Montreal has experienced a reduction in workforce following its acquisition by Embracer Group in 2022.
This latest development follows a difficult period for the studio, which previously underwent layoffs in 2025. At the time, up to 75 people were laid off from Eidos Montreal. Similar to this most-recent round of layoffs, it was framed as part of shifting project needs. Eidos Montreal was acquired by Embracer Group in 2022 as part of a larger deal involving multiple Square Enix-owned studios. Since then, Embracer has undergone significant restructuring efforts. Three consecutive years of layoffs suggests those changes are still having an impact on the studio.
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Eidos Montreal Confirms Hundreds of Employees Were Let Go
Eidos Montreal confirmed the layoffs in a LinkedIn post on March 30, 2026. In the post, the studio confirmed that 124 employees would be impacted as a result of “changing project needs,” noting that the studio needed to adjust its workforce to better align with its current development needs. Eidos Montreal specifically noted that this decision was not based on employee performance, rather, like for its 2025 layoffs, the studio framed it around shifting needs. It’s one of many layoffs that have hit this month, including 1,000 people that were laid off at Epic Games.
As part of the layoffs, it was also announced that long-time Head of Studio David Anfossi would be leaving the company. Anfossi helmed the studio for 13 years, across major projects including its Shadow of the Tomb Raider support with Crystal Dynamics, Deus Ex, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and recent Xbox projects. In total, Anfossi spent nearly two decades with Eidos Montreal. Leadership changes can often signal a shift in direction, particularly when they happen at the same time as a company restructuring. In the post announcing the layoffs, the company indicated that a transition plan is currently underway. However, no new leadership has been announced at the time of this writing.
Eidos Montreal’s recent challenges could be tied to recent changes in its project timeline. Bloomberg’s Jason Schrier recently confirmed on Reddit that, along with the latest wave of layoffs, the rumored, unannounced AAA project Eidos Montreal had been working on since 2019 has also been canceled. That aligns with the studios’ 2024 layoffs, which also saw the cancellation of the Deus Ex sequel and 97 of its employees had their positions terminated. The studio had most recently been working to support first-party Xbox games like Grounded 2 and the upcoming Fable.
More broadly, the layoffs at Eidos Montreal reflect ongoing struggles across the video game industry, where studios of all sizes have faced repeated rounds of cuts over the past few years. In his LinkedIn post announcing his departure from Eidos Montreal, Anfossi himself indicated that the industry is undergoing a reset. There have been over a dozen studio closures and subsequent layoffs in 2026 alone.
Changing development costs, evolving player expectations, leveling out after the COVID-19 spending boom, and large-scale restructuring efforts have all contributed to an increasingly unstable environment for developers. Eidos Montreal’s situation, unfortunately, is not an isolated case, but part of a wider trend affecting teams across the industry. Even established studios with seemingly bulletproof franchises like Epic Games and Fortnite are feeling that pressure.
