Life is Strange developer Don't Nod enters safeguard proceedings as layoffs proceed
French studio Don't Nod has entered safeguard proceedings, a legal process in France for restructuring a business to stave off insolvency, which means being unable to pay debts as they fall due. The studio behind Life is Strange, Remember Me, Vampyr, Banishers: New Eden and Aphelion is cutting staff while it tries to keep going.
About a month before Eurogamer's report, the company's board voted to enter a restructuring period that could lead to layoffs for as many as 90 people. A few months before that vote, Don't Nod had said it was close to running out of money. Its most recent game, Aphelion, came out in April and struggled to find an audience.
According to a French union report cited by Eurogamer, every character artist and concept artist has been let go. Most of the environment artists, sound designers, game designers, level designers, programmers, producers, testers and dev-ops staff, the engineers who manage the systems that build and release games, have also been dismissed.
The studio plans to finish P14, a game still in development, despite the redundancies. To do that, it intends to rely more on outsourced development, meaning work handed to outside companies, rather than on the smaller in-house team that remains. According to the report, management is keeping some managers to oversee that shift and to take on the workload of those let go.
The same report says affected staff are being offered only the strict legal minimum, with no extra severance packages or redundancy plans. Don't Nod is not offering a voluntary redundancy scheme, an option that pays staff to leave on agreed terms.
Staff have been vocal about the process. A union representing Don't Nod employees publicly criticised the company over alleged illegal management practices as possible layoffs loomed. According to a union statement, management approached employees and presented several possible near-term financial scenarios.
The works council, known in France as the CSE, is the body that represents staff on workplace matters. According to the report, it documented six workplace accidents at Don't Nod in 2026 and launched an inquiry into a serious and imminent danger at the studio.
The next fixed date in the process is 3 November, when the CSE negotiations end. Chief executive Oskar Guilbert leads the company through the restructuring.
