As with other developers in the last several months, Team17 is laying off staff as part of a larger company restructure. The Worms developer is facing “tens of redundancies” (Eurogamer reported around 50 employees), and primarily in the QA department. It’s claimed the developer will outsource for QA going forward.
Digital team CEO Michael Pattison “amicably parted ways” with Team17, according to a spokesperson. Pattison launched his position in October 2021 after a previous tenure at PlayStation. With his exit, commercial operations director Ann Hurley is expected to take over as CEO going forward.
In a statement confirming its “period of consultation,” Team17 noted its two subsidiaries, Astragon and Storytoys, would be unaffected by this restructuring.
A brief history of Team17’s recent events
Earlier in the year, Team17’s internal teams saw redundancies, particularly in its art and design departments. The developer has also seen several CEOs step down or come on board throughout the year, and was the subject of a 2022 report detailing poor working conditions and low pay.
That same year, Team17 had announced (and a day later, reversed course on) “environmentally friconcludely” Worms NFTs.
Following those allegations, Pattison pledged to “pull things around” and “take an extensive review of how we build a business that better supports its employees.”
The Team17 layoffs come two months after it published Blasphemous 2 from The Game Kitchen.
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