TinyBuild Shut Down Subsidiary Versus Evil And Laid Off All Of Its Staff Before Christmas
The video game industry continues to be hammered with layoffs as US-based publisher TinyBuild shuts down Versus Evil and lays off all of its employees. The studio’s closure was announced just three days before Christmas and just as the studio was supposed to go on break for the holidays. All 13 of Versus Evil’s employees have been let go according to a LinkedIn post by the studio’s product strategy director Francis Finke.
Versus Evil later confirmed the news on X, tweeting, “Today is a sad day. After 10 wonderful years, Versus Evil is shutting its doors. We've loved bringing you the best indie games we could find & sharing so many happy memories with you all, our amazing community! From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for everything!”
TinyBuild acquired Versus Evil in November 2021 in a $12.5 million deal with the potential for another $18.8 million more to be paid out in three years. With the acquisition, TinyBuild hoped to expand its reach and diversify into more genres. The deal, however, didn’t pan out as both parties would have liked.
According to TinyBuild’s December 2023 trading report, it recently paid Versus Evil’s founders, including Francis Finke and head of production Lance James, $3.5 million as settlement for failing to meet the “material obligations” of the deal, including material support and capital contributions.
TinyBuild also noted Versus Evil’s continued underperformance and the delay of three of its four titles planned for release in 2023, including post-apocalyptic RPG Broken Roads which has been delayed to 2024, assuming that it hasn’t been cancelled with the Versus Evil’s closure.
For those of you who might be thinking that Versus Evil’s executives simply decided to take the money and run, James confirmed on X that they played no part in the decision. “Let me be clear—this wasn't a Versus Evil decision or choice,” he tweeted. The said trading report also revealed layoffs among TinyBuilds own staff.
Versus Evil and TinyBuild join a long list of video game companies and studios that were hit by layoffs over the past year. The list includes Electronic Arts, Epic Games, CD Projekt Red, Embracer Group, and numerous other companies. Campfire Cabal, Volition Games, and Free Radical Design were also shut down this year following Embracer’s failed partnership deal that buried the Swedish holding company in debt.
Amazon also laid off thousands of employees in multiple job cuts this past year, Microsoft announced its plans to lay off roughly 10,000 employees in January, and Meta will be dismissing 10,000 of its staff in March, on top of the 11,000 that were laid off in November 2022.
