Good Job developer Paladin Studios closes after nearly 20 years

Paladin Studios has shut down.

The indie studio - established in the Netherlands in 2005 - announced the closure earlier this week, saying its "quest [had] come to an end" and 45 people, "each and every one of them a brilliant mind and kind heart", have lost their jobs.

"For almost 19 years, we have poured our hearts and souls into creating games that make you smile," the team said in a heartfelt statement posted to its official website (thanks, VGC).

"Starting as a bootstrapped mini studio in 2005, we followed the twists and turns of the game industry and slowly but steadily found our place in it. Over these years, the studio peaked at 55 people."

The statement adds that over almost 20 years, the studio had worked with "incredible partners" such as Nintendo, Apple Arcade, Netflix, Zeptolab, and Bandai Namco on games like Good Job, Cut the Rope Remastered, Amazing Katamari Damacy, and My Tamagotchi Forever.

"Last but not least, our games are being played by millions of people, earning prestigious awards and bringing smiles to people all over the world. This was a dream come true - in fact, for us, it was THE dream come true."

The studio said it had "failed to land enough work" and "hit an inflection point for [its] financial security".

"Going further with the current outlook would have been an irresponsible decision that would have likely caused insolvency," the statement explains. "We have therefore taken this step to ensure a proper winding down, where all employees are given proper severance and the studio remains debt-free.

"Please reach out if you have any open vacancies for design, programming, 2D art, 3D art, production, QA, management or support staff - all skills are here, and these people are among the finest in the industry."

The statement concludes on promising players that Paladin intends to "keep providing technical support" to keep its existing games "alive".

The number of layoffs in 2024 across the whole games industry is estimated to be over 9000 so far. The total number of layoffs in 2023 is thought to be around 10,500. Chris Dring, head of GamesIndustry.biz, recently explored why there are so many layoffs in the video games industry right now.

"The video games industry faces its first major crisis in 40 years. It's an unprecedented and brutal situation. But if there's one thing that gives me hope, it's the games themselves," Dring wrote.