Yellow Brick Games, developer of Eternal Strands, reports staff layoffs

Yellow Brick Games, the studio behind the action-adventure title Eternal Strands, has begun a round of staff layoffs. The news, which surfaced via several LinkedIn posts from affected employees and was initially noted by Chris Kerr on Bluesky, follows a period of releases for the independent studio. Founded in 2020 by former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw and several Ubisoft veterans, the company established itself as a developer focused on its original IP.

As of April 2024, the studio reportedly employed 68 people. While the total number of individuals impacted by these current job cuts remains undisclosed, several staff members have publicly confirmed their departures. These include Senior Environment/Hard Surface Artist Derian McCrea, Graphics Engineer Adam Clapsaddle, Software Programmer Rebecca Bélanger, QA Lead Jessica Chapados Arseneault, and Senior Level Designer Julien Tonsuso. It is currently not known if the layoffs extend beyond those who have shared their status on LinkedIn, nor has the studio provided a public statement regarding the reason for the cuts.

Yellow Brick Games launched Eternal Strands in January 2025, which served as the studio’s debut release and only game title to date. The action-adventure RPG, which has been described as a wizarding sim featuring physics powers and climbable bosses, followed up with a free DLC expansion in April 2025. At the time of writing, Yellow Brick Games had not responded to requests for comment regarding the situation. Players interested in the game’s status can continue to monitor the studio’s official channels for news regarding ongoing technical support, as developers have previously noted they are working on addressing issues with the title.

Why it matters

For players and the wider gaming community, this development is the latest in a recurring trend of workforce reductions hitting studios across the industry. This news arrives shortly after reports of layoffs at Ninja Theory and Supermassive Games. Such events are part of a broader sequence of job cuts affecting the industry in 2026, including actions at companies like CD Projekt Red, Epic, and Ubisoft. Microsoft has also recently continued with plans to implement hundreds of redundancies across multiple studios. For fans of Eternal Strands, these layoffs raise questions about the future support and potential updates for the title. When mid-sized studios undergo significant restructuring, it often leads to uncertainty regarding long-term maintenance or future development projects.