Firaxis Games, the studio that developed Civilization VII, is undergoing layoffs. The news went public when a former employee took to LinkedIn to announce her unemployment; Game Developer picked the story up, and publisher 2K Games soon confirmed it.
"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 wrote to multiple news outlets. The company did not confirm the number of people laid off.
The two most recent Firaxis games, 2022's Marvel's Midnight Suns and 2025's Civilization VII, both appeared to launch to lukewarm initial sales and player numbers.
When Civilization VII launched, it had several bugs and UI problems that frustrated players, and it made some big changes to the franchise's formula that alienated some people. Since launch, Firaxis has been releasing patches and responding to player feedback about some of the divisive changes.
Civilization VII has consistently lagged behind predecessors like Civilization VI and even Civilization V in both concurrent Steam users and Twitch viewers.