By Sagar V. Mankar 
Bossa Games, the studio behind quirky titles like Surgeon Simulator, has announced a new round of layoffs as part of restructuring efforts. The company will reduce its development teams to concentrate on finishing and launching its upcoming game Lost Skies.
Co-founder and co-CEO Henrique Olifiers shared the news in a statement on LinkedIn, explaining that the studio is adjusting to what he describes as “a fundamental transformation of the games industry.” Though the exact number of affected employees wasn’t revealed, Olifiers called the decision “painful” and acknowledged the departure of “extremely talented and treasured colleagues.”
“We’ve had to make the painful decision to scale back, focusing on the late-stage production of Lost Skies and its upcoming launch, ensuring the game is successfully released and evolved for its players for the foreseeable future,” Olifiers stated.
This isn’t the first time Bossa has reduced its workforce. At the end of 2023, the company laid off approximately one-third of its staff, reportedly cutting 19 of 59 employees. After those cuts, about 40 team members remained to work on Lost Skies, a cooperative survival adventure.
Olifiers pointed to several industry-wide challenges that contributed to these difficult decisions. According to his previous statements, smaller AA and indie games have struggled to get attention alongside big-budget AAA titles, while operational costs have increased and funding decisions have been delayed.
Looking ahead, Bossa plans to shift its approach once Lost Skies launches. “Once Lost Skies is established and enjoying live operations, we’ll reshape into small teams working independently on novel game ideas brought to the players as early as possible,” Olifiers explained.
The situation at Bossa reflects broader troubles in the gaming industry during early 2025. Reports indicate nearly 1,000 game developers across 30 different studios have lost their jobs in just the first six weeks of the year. Major companies like Ubisoft have cut hundreds of positions and closed entire studios.
Other affected developers include Freejam, Iron Galaxy, and Sumo Group. More recent cuts have hit Liquid Sword, NetEase Games, Toast Interactive, and Netflix’s gaming studio Night School.
Founded in London in 2010, Bossa Games (formerly Bossa Studios) made its name creating unique physics-based games with a comedic twist. The studio became known for innovative titles like Surgeon Simulator, where players awkwardly perform operations with deliberately difficult controls, and I Am Bread, which lets players control a slice of bread attempting to become toast.
While the company was originally based in London, it now operates as a fully remote studio.
Source: VGC