Square Enix is Laying Off Over 100 People

Mass layoffs at Square Enix are now underway, and they could potentially affect over 100 employees at the company across the US and the UK. Over the years, Square Enix has made itself known for franchises like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, and while that growth has expanded the company to overseas offices, it appears as though it has chosen to pull back certain operations.

Square Enix has been quiet lately, as games like Kingdom Hearts 4 and Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 remain in the shadows. With other upcoming projects like Octopath Traveler 0 and a remake of Dragon Quest VII, it seemed as though Square Enix was continuing to grow, but unfortunately, the company has chosen to lay off many of its employees that reside outside of Japan.

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By Dominik Bošnjak

Square Enix's Mass Layoffs Hit the US and UK Offices

Square Enix aims to consolidate its publishing.
The company also wants its development to be done in Japan.
Square Enix wants 70% of QA work to be done by generative AI in the future.

Employees affected by the layoffs have posted the news to social media, but the most significant insight into the company's decision is found in an internal memo detailing Square Enix's future plans. The memo clearly emphasizes the "reorganization of overseas organizations." A detail in the company-wide memo that is bound to be controversial is the confirmation that Square Enix intends to implement a lot more AI moving forward. The company hopes that AI will be doing 70% of debugging and AI tasks by the end of 2027. This move to AI is to "improve the efficiency of QA operations and establish a competitive advantage in game development."

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It's unclear how many employees in the US have been affected, but an estimated number of 137 UK employees could be laid off. This number could change after redundancy consultations, though, as it's required by UK law. Moving forward, development will be focused in Japan, with the memo clearly stating, "A decision was made to close overseas development studios and shift toward consolidating development functions in Japan." Other details in the memo mentioned Square Enix's game calendar for the next three years and its plans to expand various IP into other mediums, like the recently-announced Life is Strange TV series.

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As time passes, the number of employees laid off will become more clear. Unfortunately, game layoffs have been quite common this year. Microsoft had some of the most notable layoffs earlier this year, and Square Enix is now sadly added to the list.

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