Toadman Interactive shuts down, layoffs at Piranha Games

Last week, Swedish games firm Enad Global 7 (EG7) initiated the "wind down" of Toadman Interactive and laid off 38 employees from Piranha Games.

EG7 said the decision to shut down Toadman Interactive was due to "continued industry challenges and the studio's inability to secure new work-for-hire contracts at a necessary pace."

Current work-for-hire contracts on current projects, including Daybreak and Cold Iron, will be protected during the process set to occur in the second half of 2025.

69 employees and subcontractors will be affected by the wind down, with 42 staying on to fulfil contracts of protected projects.

Last September, Toadman closed its offices in Stockholm, Visby, and Oslo, in addition to redundancies at its Berlin studio.

As for Piranha Games, 38 employees will be let go as part of a "business optimisation plan" following the release of MechWarrior 5: Clans.

"The team at Piranha truly delivered a high-quality game that exceeded both internal as well as external expectations in terms of quality, story, and gameplay," said EG7 CEO Ji Ham.

"Despite the phenomenal work by the team at Piranha, the game failed to reach new audiences and expand its core audience as expected and therefore has not met the necessary sales targets, which has forced us to undertake necessary actions."

Toadman, publisher Sold Out, and creative agency Petrol joined together in January 2020 to form EG7. Later that year, the firm acquired Piranha Games for $24.1 million.