Team17 has confirmed that it will be commencing a company restructure that will likely result in multiple job losses. In addition, it has also announced an 'amicable' split with CEO Michael Pattison. This comes following recent reports of significant layoffs at Epic Games.
As reported by Eurogamer and VG247, Team17 has begun a 'period of consultation' during which a significant number of redundancies are likely to be made. It confirmed the departure of Michael Pattison in a statement to VG247:
“In response to the reports concerning the departure of Michael Pattison from Team17, we can confirm we have amicably parted ways with Michael. We can also confirm that we have sadly entered into a period of consultation today within Team17 Digital, with Astragon and Storytoys remaining unaffected by the restructuring plans.”
As for the job losses themselves, it's thought that this may affect the Internal QA (Quality Assurance) team the most, with up to 50 roles at risk. Staff were apparently informed of the upcoming restructuring in an emergency town hall meeting, with the consultation period lasting from now until November.
Michael Pattison joined Team17 in October 2021 after previously working at the likes of PlayStation and Capcom. Since then, Team17 had come under fire for its 'MetaWorms' NFT project before a damning report emerged of the firm's working environment and business practices.