5th Planet Games shutters Nottingham studio

5th Planet Games has confirmed it is closing down its Nottingham studio, laying off 14 staff.

The studio, previously known as Fuzzy Frog before it was acquired by 5th Planet, is perhaps best known for mobile titles like Cristiano Ronaldo’s Kick ‘n’ Run and augmented reality app Real Scary Spiders. It was founded in 2009, and acquired by 5th Planet Games – which itself recently rebranded having previously been known as Hugo Games – just two years ago. According to GI.biz, projects from the Nottingham studio have now been taken over by 5th Planet’s sibling studios in Berlin and Rocklin.

"We have unfortunately not been able to get the expected results out of our Nottingham studio," 5th Planet CEO Henrik Nielsen said. "In spite of being responsible for launching several games, the Nottingham studio hasn’t been able to meet expected goals and KPIs. Therefore we believe that now is the time to take the consequences."

These latest layoffs come on the back of many other closures and cutbacks we’ve seen recently. Earlier this month, Valve let go its VR team and employees on "contractor agreements", Techland shuttered Polish publishing and distribution division, and Brighton-based That’s You! developer Wish Studios closed down.

Digital retailer GOG laid off "a dozen" positions, purported to be around 10 per cent of its workforce and only a month after reportedly laying off an "undisclosed number" of staff from its American San Mateo studio, Iron Tiger Studios, South Korean online game publisher NCSoft has announced it will be making "staff reductions" at Guild Wars 2 developer, ArenaNet, too. Finnish studio Next Games recently announced it is laying off 26 staff after it reviewed "the cost structure of the company’s operations", and Activision recently laid off 8 per cent of its staff – 775 people.

Other closures include AER Memories of Old developer, Forgotten Key, Islands of Nyne: Battle Royale developer, Define Human Studios, Daybreak, Starbreeze, Bandai Namco Vancouver, and Trion Worlds, best known for its MMO games. Telltale Games laid off the majority of its staff in a ‘majority studio closure’ back in September. The media too has been affected, with the shuttering of leading strategy guides publisher Prima Games and Future’s GamesMaster and games™ magazines.