Full extent of Team17 cuts threaten third of the company - sources

Team17 is poised to lay off up to 91 people - a third of the company - as part of its major restructuring programme, Eurogamer can reveal.

The publisher of Worms, Dredge and Hell Let Loose confirmed it was planning to make redundancies earlier this month, after Eurogamer broke news that extensive cuts were being made to Team17's QA department in favour of outsourcing work elsewhere.

But the job losses go much further than those at risk in QA, Eurogamer understands, with staff across a wide range of departments affected - including those employed in Team17's marketing, usability, customer service, IT and HR teams.

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So deep are the cuts that Eurogamer has been contacted by developers working on games set to be published by Team17 that have been left concerned about the company's ability to continue working on their project due to the sheer numbers of people likely to be made redundant, and the knowledge and skills being lost.

Development partners were not told of the layoffs before they were confirmed publicly by Team17, sources close to the company said. One developer said they first realised the team they had been working with was likely no longer at the company after seeing their posts on LinkedIn looking for new employment.

Team17 declined to comment when contacted for this article.

It's been a week since Team17 confirmed its intent to restructure the company. The news followed a strong set of mid-year financial results for the wider Team17 group only weeks before.

Team17 has not commented publicly on the reasoning for the restructure, but staff and development parties say they have been told the reasoning they have been given relates to the release calendar this year being particularly competitive for the business.

Staff affected by the restructuring are now part of a formal consultation process which is set to conclude next month.