
In 2000, Gameloft opened its first studio in Romania, unsurprisingly choosing Bucharest as the location. The French video game publisher took the second step in the country one decade later, when it opened a studio in Cluj. Sadly, today the company, now owned by Vivendi, confirmed the decision to pull the plug and lay off no less than 136 employees.
As revealed by employees who sent messages to Romanian blogger Doru Șupeală, an internal meeting took place on May 13th. During this meeting, the employees of the Cluj studio were informed that July 10th would be their last day as Gameloft employees. The worst part is that many of these people have been employed there for less than a year, and it will be quite a challenge for them to find new jobs, as many Romanian IT companies are also going through a tough period.
According to former Gameloft Cluj employees who commented on Șupeală’s blog, the studio had 500 employees before the activity started to slow down. During its activity, it employed over 2,000 people and was an excellent first step into the industry for many of them. Some insiders also claim that Gameloft will close its Bucharest studio as well, planning to relocate all tasks currently handled by its two Romanian locations to Asia. However, there is no official confirmation yet.
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