Zero Parades Dev Announces Layoffs Despite Game’s Critical Acclaim

Another day, another layoff announcement. This time it comes from Zero Parades: For Dead Spies developer ZA/UM, which said on social media that despite the game's critical acclaim, the studio can't sustain the size of its team. ZA/UM took to Bluesky on July 17 to share the unfortunate news. The team said that although Zero Parades reviewed well, "its commercial performance" made it difficult for the studio to maintain its current employee count. As a result, the company has "served redundancy or at-risk notices" to up to 32 staffers at the RPG studio. "Throughout this difficult process, we have continued to consult and work with representatives of the ZA/UM Workers' Alliance," the studio wrote on Bluesky. "This changes the shape of ZA/UM, but not its purpose. Our artistic standards remain unchanged: We will persist." Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is the second game from ZA/UM following the studio's 2019 outing Disco Elysium. Released in May 2026 for PC with a PS5 version coming later this year, Zero Parades is an isometric espionage RPG about a female operative named Hershel Wilk who's tasked with uncovering the secrets of her haunted past. It's chilling and thrilling in the best ways, receiving an 8/10 in GameSpot's Zero Parades: For Dead Spies review and an 83 score on Metacritic. ZA/UM is the latest developer to suffer layoffs, as 2026 has seen the games industry rattled by myriad studio closures and employee terminations. Earlier this month, Xbox let go of 1,600 staffers as part of its big "reset" earlier this month, with another 1,600 planned to get laid off in the next 12 months. Skate studio Full Circle was also hit with layoffs in February 2026, as was 2XKO developer Riot Games in the same month. Meanwhile, Sony shut down Bluepoint Games, the developer responsible for some excellent remakes, in February as well. It seems like everywhere you look, another layoff happens.