Devolver Digital cuts 40% of staff at Reigns developer Nerial

Indie publisher Devolver Digital has laid off 40% of its staff at Reigns developer Nerial. 

That's according to the company's 2024 Financial Year report which revealed that it had cut roles at the studio over “issues" with some of its recent releases. 

“Nerial has undergone a team restructure to address issues around recent releases and to better shape the team for future releases," read the company's FY24 investor presentation. 

"This restructure has resulted in a 40 percent reduction in headcount."

At the time of writing, Nerial's ‘about us' page lists only 11 members and 13 on LinkedIn. It is unclear if this is before or after the cuts took place. 

Global evaluations 

Devolver also shared that Polish developer Artificer cut over 50% of its workforce in early 2024 and introduced a new greenlighting process to focus on projects aligned with current market trends. 

The company said it will keep evaluating the size of its global operations while focusing investment on long-tail expandable games. 

Most funding is going into first-party IP, especially existing franchises. It said that key 2025 investments include Starseeker and other unannounced titles, with spending expected to decline after 2025, which marks its peak investment year.