Following the launch of its latest title, TRON: Catalyst, Bithell Games has made “the majority of our full-time staff” redundant. Founder Mike Bithell revealed this on Bluesky, and the signs were there even before Catalyst’s release (and mixed critical reception).
“It became clear leading up to the release of our most recent game that we were not immune to the challenges faced by many game development teams seeking funding partners in 2024 and 2025. We’ve fortunately been able to communicate these challenges ahead of time, and work with affected staff to ease departures as much as possible via severance packages.”
The reason for the layoffs is due to Bithell Games being unable to “secure a new large-scale project.” However, they won’t impact “the availability of our existing self-published games” and ongoing support of the same. Of course, as with licensed titles like John Wick Hex (recently delisted from storefronts), TRON: Identity and TRON: Catalyst, that could change, since they’re all published by Big Fan Games and Devolver Digital.
The studio’s next steps (and project), alongside sales figures for TRON: Catalyst, are currently unknown, so stay tuned for more updates. The redundancies at Bithell Games are only the latest to hit the industry this year. Besides Microsoft’s recent wave of mass layoffs, other affected studios include Supermassive Games, Virtuos, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Eidos Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, PlayStation Visual Arts, Striking Distance Studios, Boss Games, and more.
