British company Antstream has laid off a “small amount” of staff working on its retro gaming platform, Antstream Arcade.
In a statement to Games industryAntstream attributed the reductions to a “strategic shift in internal focus.” The statement came days after the former public relations manager Diane Hutchinson and user interface designer Robyn Jamieson they revealed they had been hit.
“This decision was not made lightly,” he wrote, “and we will work to support those affected throughout the process. Antstream Arcade remains committed to providing the best possible experience for our players.”
Antstream Arcade first launched in 2019 after the company was founded in 2013 by Steve Cottam. The cloud-based service consists of games from older consoles like the NES, Atari 2600, and the original PlayStation.
Both Tencent AND Atari has previously invested money in the platform, which is available on computers, Android and various smart TVs. In July 2023 the time has come Xbox One and Xbox Series as the console's first third-party cloud service.
Antstream's layoffs were preceded by reductions in Nexon America AND Hit Creator Hi-Rez Studios days before. This week also saw the closure of Black Flag Studiothe team behind the next survival game The era of orphans.
Further staff cuts are also on the horizon in the video games sector. XR Games AND Sharkmob they said they are undergoing consultations to determine whether more workers will be made redundant.