Latest news with #TheElderScrolls4:OblivionRemastered
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Virtuos helped make one of the year's best-selling video games. Now, 300 of its workers may be out of a job
Virtuos, which helped develop The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, one of the best-selling video games of 2025, is reportedly conducting layoffs that will affect 7% of its global staff, or around 300 people. Virtuos has contributed to many of the world's most popular video games, including Fortnite. Virtuos, the game-development studio that developed one of this year's best-selling video games, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off about 7% of its staff, which comes out to about 300 employees. The news comes courtesy of Gauthier Andres, a journalist and co-founder of the French video-game website Origami. Founded in Shanghai in 2004, Virtuos employs more than 4,200 people across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The company has expertise in many of the most popular game engines used today, including Unreal, Unity, Frostbite, and others, so it's been able to contribute to many different types of games, including some of the most popular ones like Fortnite, Dark Souls: Remastered, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, NieR Automata, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and countless others. Most notably, though, Virtuos was primarily responsible for the 2025 remaster of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which was a critical and commercial success when the original version launched in 2006. The remaster was just as popular: It became the third-best-selling game of 2025 less than a week after its release, reaching four million players in just three days. Virtuos did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. A rough year for game studios Virtuos is hardly the only gaming company conducting layoffs. 2025 has been a tough year for studios both big and small: Just this month, Microsoft laid off more than 9,000 employees, with a significant portion coming from its gaming division, which led to some studios closing (The Initiative) and several projects getting canceled, like the remake of the hit 2000 game Perfect Dark. Sony's Bend Studio also laid off dozens of employees, and Electronic Arts also cut roughly 300 to 400 employees this spring. There are several reasons for why game studios are conducting layoffs, with the primary factor being the skyrocketing costs associated with producing a video games. Games take years to make, with some budgets ballooning over $500 million—more than most Hollywood movies, save for the blockbuster superhero-type fare. Game studios also did a ton of hiring during the pandemic when people were forced indoors and doubled down on home entertainment. But once consumer spending returned to pre-pandemic levels, demand failed to keep up with the pace of studio growth, which is why we're seeing the correction in the industry now. The growing adoption of AI and other automated tools is also transforming workflows, which means some roles are now more vulnerable than they were before. It just goes to show that even achieving wild success provides no guarantees in the world of game development. Notably, Virtuos helped roll out a major update for Oblivion Remastered just this week. This story was originally featured on Solve the daily Crossword
Engadget
2 days ago
- Business
- Engadget
Virtuos, the studio behind Oblivion Remastered, is laying off around 270 employees
Virtuos, the studio that developed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered , is laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 270 employees. Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at Origami , was first to report the news, which the studio later confirmed. Virtuos has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for Cyberpunk 2077 — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia. The company said the layoffs are primarily affecting "teams facing lower occupancy and slower demand due to structural shifts in the industry." It's firing around 200 people in Asia and approximately 70 in Europe. "Fewer than 10" of those are in France, where the core team working on Oblivion Remastered is based. Virtuos says it's offering affected workers layoff packages, career transition assistance and, "where possible," job opportunities across its network. "Over the past 12 months, Virtuos has deepened its commitment to premium co-development through key acquisitions of Beyond-FX, Pipeworks, and Umanaïa in North America, as well as Third Kind Games and Abstraction in Europe," Virtuos said in a statement. "These studios enhance our strengths in VFX, design, Unreal Engine programming and creative development. This ongoing investment reflects our intent to grow in areas where our expertise and scale create lasting value, while selectively exiting service segments where demand is weakening. We need to better match the locations of our teams with those of our clients to support the increasingly iterative nature of creative co-development. This alignment is why the current reorganization has a greater impact on our teams in Asia." Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and several ongoing live service games, like Dune: Awakening and Sea of Thieves . Nothing about the company's output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry. Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn't enough. Virtuos' layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July. Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare's long-in-development Everwild , and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative. Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner. Update July 17, 2025, 9:57AM ET: Added confirmation of the layoffs from Virtuos.
Engadget
3 days ago
- Business
- Engadget
Virtuos, the studio behind Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off staff
Virtuos, the studio that developed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered , is reportedly laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 300 employees, according to Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at Origami . The studio has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for Cyberpunk 2077 — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia. The brunt of the layoffs are happening to Virtuos employees in China, where Andres reports that around 200 positions are being eliminated. Virtuos' teams in France, who were primarily responsible for the surprise release of Oblivion Remastered back in April, are also expected to be impacted. Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and several ongoing live service games, like Dune: Awakening and Sea of Thieves . Nothing about the company's output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry. Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn't enough. Virtuos' layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July. Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare's long-in-development Everwild , and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative. Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner.
Daily Maverick
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the surprise masterpiece no one saw coming
It'll likely be scooping several Game of the Year awards toward the end of 2025, and for good reason, as Expedition 33 shows that you can make waves in the industry without needing to cater to as broad an audience as possible. Tomorrow comes, and we continue. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shouldn't be this good. On paper, a traditional turn-based RPG with souls-like influences fused into its design, a relatively short time-to-complete playtime, and a decadently French direction sounds like a recipe for chaos. Somehow, though, developer Sandfall Interactive has managed to combine all of its ideas into a harmonious experience with its debut effort. It says a lot when the end result is so good, so exquisite in its execution that it even manages to overshadow the likes of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, a game released a mere two days before its release. To put it simply, Expedition 33 is both a revelation and a love letter to a bygone era of gaming. Full of elegant art direction inspired by France's Belle Époque period, a rock-solid cast of characters to fall in love with, and gameplay that keeps your eyes glued to the screen, Expedition 33 pays homage to the past while forging its own path forward. Once a year, the Paintress wakes and paints upon her monolith in Expedition 33. Every year sees a new cursed number appear, leading to an event known as 'the gommage' in which everyone of that age turns to petals and fades away. Year by year, that number ticks down and more people are erased, while doomed expeditions set out to her continent in a futile attempt to stop her. Players are quickly introduced to Gustav in Expedition 33, who leads a party to stop her or at least pave the way forward for the next expedition, with members grimly reciting a mantra to remind them that they're fighting for tomorrow. Expedition 33's story could have easily wallowed in the nihilistic despair of its premise, but Sandfall Interactive makes certain to inject a sense of optimism and enthusiasm into its tale, introducing players to layered characters brought to life by a cast of acting heavyweights. Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Andy Serkis (Andor), and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy 16 and noted appreciator of Final Fantasy 8) bring their A-game to Expedition 33, while the rest of the game's small but talented cast is fleshed out by the likes of Jennifer English, Kirsty Rider, and Shala Nyx. Like the best turn-based RPGs, Expedition 33's story is one of twists and turns, heartbreak and triumph in a world that you can't get enough of. There's a painterly quality to everything; a rich canvas to explore and interesting characters to meet throughout the game, but it's also an adventure that feels fantastic to play. Applying the souls-like label to any game will most likely turn off a portion of the audience, but to its credit, Sandfall has managed to cleverly make these gameplay ideas complement the core RPG experience. Whereas other studios would haphazardly bolt these ideas onto their product to quickly cash in on the gaming zeitgeist, Expedition 33 is so in touch with these mechanics that you can't imagine it not having them after you've spent a few hours with the title. The genius here is that Expedition 33 is essentially two different games whenever you initiate combat. There's a heavy JRPG influence, as basic attacks and spellcasting are combined with broader ideas and unique character movesets. The mage Lune, for example, can stack up elemental stains that can be consumed to increase damage, while Maelle combines ballet with fencing arts to weave in and out of stances that offer various advantages. These moves also have a light smattering of quick-time events woven into them, keeping you more engaged with the action as it unfolds on the screen. But when it's the enemy's turn? That's when you need to lean forward on your seat and prepare to test your reflexes. From Software's Sekiro is the best example of what to expect here, as you'll need to dodge and parry attacks from the opposition. Getting the timing right allows you to avoid damage and even follow up with a counterattack, and as you venture further into the game, more interesting wrinkles on the combat present themselves to the player. The combination leads to thrilling enemy encounters, and even if you find yourself grossly outgunned, a few well-timed parries can turn the tide of battle and net you a hard-earned victory. Another layer to this system are Pictos, items that can be equipped to buff attacks. Spread across the game, Pictos allow for some incredible experimentation and buildcrafting. Expedition 33 players have come up with some jaw-dropping builds since the game was released, and while it has been significantly nerfed, there's still a build that can be used to turn Maelle into a walking extinction event. Take that, horrible robo-mime bastard who is a headache to face at first. There's more to the game than just a rip-roaring yarn of cancelling the apocalypse and outfitting your crew with stereotypically French outfits and baguettes, of course. Expedition 33 is a masterclass in keeping players engaged, as even the art of grinding out some extra XP feels worthwhile thanks to the head-turning gameplay. I could go on about its stellar soundtrack, French New Wave cinematic influences, and the nuanced approach to character development, not to mention the sheer grandeur of the boss battles that you'll experience. But that would do the game a disservice, because the best thing about Expedition 33 is that it's constantly surprising – offering a journey that you'll want to undertake without being too informed of what awaits you. DM Released on 24 April, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is out now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's also playable with Game Pass.
Metro
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Oblivion Remastered bugs get worse the more you play it reveals tech breakdown
Bethesda's remaster of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion has turned out some odd performance issues, and they get worse the more you play it. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered launched last month after a slew of leaks, to a rapturous reception and higher sales than even Bethesda expected. The remake, developed by Virtuos, is a substantial overhaul of the original 2006 game, with revised gameplay mechanics, a revamped user interface, and widespread improvements to the visuals thanks to Unreal Engine 5. While Bethesda's role-playing games are synonymous with technical bugs, it seemed at first that the remaster had ironed out a lot of them. But a new analysis shows that the game is something of a ticking time bomb. As outlined in a new Digital Foundry video, which is focused on the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PS5 Pro console versions, it seems Oblivion Remastered is more prone to crashes and other performance issues the longer you play it. The video claims a 'fresh boot' of the game, aka shutting down the software, booting it up and loading into a save for the first time, will give you an 'often significantly higher' frame rate compared to a playthrough which has been running for 15 minutes or more, with drops from 59fps to around 45fps. You'll be more prone to crashes and other issues affecting the camera position the longer you play in one continuous session, which is fixed when you reload the save following a reboot (albeit only for 15 minutes). Digital Foundry suggests it is a memory management issue (aka memory leak) which is making the performance worse over time. According to players, this was an issue in some of Bethesda's past games as well, including The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition, but it's less forgiveable when it's affecting a substantial remake running in Unreal Engine 5. More Trending 'Returning to the Oblivion remaster for a second console testing brings a great many issues to light,' the video concludes, with all console platforms affected by hitching, frame rate drops, and bugs. Since its launch on April 22, there have been no substantial updates to Oblivion Remastered. Bethesda has called for suggestions from players on how to improve the experience on its official Discord, so hopefully some kind of patch is in the works. Bethesda is currently in development on the next mainline entry, The Elder Scrolls 6, which is expected to launch at some point after 2026. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Video game companies are lying to us about everything – Reader's Feature MORE: Why I tried to beat Oblivion Remastered without ever using fast travel – Reader's Feature MORE: The 5 new GTA 6 Trailer 2 Easter eggs only superfans will have noticed
