Several developers have reported layoffs at one of the internal studios of Wizards of the Coast.
According to technical artist Stephen Jenkins, the team was disbanded. Only a small core will remain at the head office, while the rest of the developers will be laid off.
Similar messages appeared on the LinkedIn pages of several other employees. For instance, lead gameplay programmer Dominic Braun stated that Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have decided to “shut down Atomic Arcade.”
However, a few hours later, Hasbro representatives clarified that the studio is operational: “Currently, the team is evaluating further options to continue game development.” Nevertheless, no specifics were provided by the company.
Atomic Arcade was established within WotC in 2021 by experienced producer Ames Kirshen, who has been involved with the Batman: Arkham series and dozens of Marvel-licensed games. The studio’s debut project was intended to be a game about the mute ninja Snake Eyes in the G.I. Joe universe, envisioned as a AAA action title on Unreal Engine 5.
Hasbro has other internal studios as well, including Archetype Entertainment (working on the RPG Exodus), Invoke Studios (developing the action game Warlock in the D&D universe), and Skeleton Key.