Civilization developer Firaxis is laying off staff

Firaxis, longtime developer of the strategy series Civilization, is laying off an undisclosed number of staff, Game Developer reports. "We can confirm there was a staff reduction today at Firaxis Games, as the studio restructures and optimizes its development process for adaptability, collaboration and creativity," a spokesperson for the studio's publisher and owner 2K told Engadget. The layoffs follow turmoil at another 2K studio, Cloud Chamber, which is supposed to be developing the next Bioshock game. 

Some former staff who worked on Civilization VII and Marvel's Midnight Sons have already shared on social media that they were laid off. Game Developer's source claims "dozens of workers" were caught up in the cuts. The 2K spokesperson said it was company policy "to not disclose specific employee numbers related to layoffs and restructuring."

The layoffs are surprising only because Take-Two Interactive, Firaxis and 2K's parent company, was still expecting financial growth for the back half of 2025. Despite delaying its hotly anticipated cash cow Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two shared in March that it expected five percent growth in revenue and net bookings for the rest of the year, according to Game Developer. While that might suggest jobs should be safe, layoffs are increasingly a feature of game companies' normal business strategies. A game could be a failure or a success, but either way it seems to lead to layoffs.

Firaxis' latest game, Civilization VII, was released in February 2025. The game features a new approach to the series' turn-based gameplay, letting players mix and match world leaders and civilizations to their strategic benefit. While it wasn't released to universal acclaim, Firaxis has continued to update Civilization VII since its release with new content and software fixes.

Update, September 5, 2025, 9:17AM ET: Added a statement from 2K.