Yellow Brick Games, the independent studio behind Eternal Strands, has been hit by a new round of layoffs, with multiple employees publicly confirming that they lost their jobs on October 6. The studio has not yet issued a public statement detailing the scale of the cuts or the reason behind them. Its careers page currently lists no open positions.
Among those affected is QA lead Jessica Chapados Arseneault, who said she had been impacted after four years at Yellow Brick Games. Arseneault said she had helped build the studio’s QA department and worked on Eternal Strands, while noting that she is now seeking another position after 12 years in the games industry. Graphics and engine developer Adam Clapsaddle also said he was part of the layoffs after roughly one year at the company.
Another employee, Rebecca Bélanger, separately said she had been laid off after several years at Yellow Brick Games and is now looking for engine and tools development work. The individual statements make clear that the cuts extend across more than one discipline, but there is not yet enough verified information to determine the total number of affected staff. Yellow Brick Games has also not confirmed whether the reductions are complete.
The timing is notable because the studio had been expanding relatively recently. Co-founder and executive producer Jeff Skalski said in late 2025 that Yellow Brick Games had grown from four founders to 76 employees in five years, including 17 hires during that year alone. The studio’s LinkedIn profile still describes the company as having more than 60 employees, although that figure may not yet reflect the latest cuts.
Yellow Brick Games was founded in 2020 by industry veterans including former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw and developers with experience across Ubisoft and other major studios. Its debut game, Eternal Strands, launched in January 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The action RPG was built around physics-driven combat, environmental destruction and elemental abilities, with players controlling Brynn as she explored the Enclave and fought large creatures.
The studio had also been actively staffing up for another project. Only a few months ago, Yellow Brick Games advertised roles including a character rigger, system administrator and technical positions for what it described as an exciting new intellectual property. The company’s official website now says there are no job openings, marking a clear change from that earlier hiring activity.
The layoffs arrive during another difficult period for game development employment. Recent cuts have affected studios of very different sizes, including more than 70 employees leaving Supermassive Games and major layoffs at Heart Machine following a project cancellation. The causes vary between companies, but the continued frequency of reductions shows that employment instability remains widespread across the industry.
Yellow Brick Games had positioned itself as a smaller independent studio built around sustainable development practices. Its website says the company values people and emphasizes healthy work-life balance, while its founders have frequently spoken about building games with focused teams rather than operating at the scale of a large publisher-owned studio. That makes the current layoffs particularly significant given how recently the company had been celebrating growth.
There is currently no indication that Eternal Strands itself is being shut down or removed from sale, and Yellow Brick Games’ website still lists another unannounced title as being in development. The company has not said whether the layoffs will affect that project’s scope, schedule or staffing. Until the studio provides further details, the exact size and long-term impact of the restructuring remain unclear.
For now, the confirmed information comes directly from employees saying they were laid off and from the studio’s now-empty jobs page. Yellow Brick Games had expanded considerably after Eternal Strands entered production and release, but at least several members of that team are now looking for new roles. More information may emerge if the studio formally addresses the cuts.
