Square Enix Lays Off Over 100 Workers Amidst Company Reorganization

By Farouk Kannout | November 7, 2025 | 2:45pm

Video Games News Square Enix

Once again, alarm bells are ringing within the games industry, this time due to a major company with a questionable track record in the past few years. The Japanese video game publisher Square Enix is undergoing mass layoffs as the company restructures to focus on game development in Japan. According to IGN, many employees in the UK and U.S. were informed of the layoffs on Nov. 6, 2025, and are to be dismissed within one week. While the exact number of jobs at risk in the United States is currently unknown, up to 137 jobs are at risk in the UK.

A slide presentation that is now available on Square Enix’s website reveals a pivot away from the company’s development overseas, saying “to strengthen development capabilities from a Group-wide perspective and to optimize resource allocation for maximizing the value generated by IPs, a further review of the development pipeline was conducted. As a result, a decision was made to close overseas development studios and shift toward consolidating development functions in Japan.”

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Square Enix shared a press statement with IGN, saying that, “we are reorganizing our operations in North America and Europe to strengthen our development structure and to drive a globally integrated marketing strategy. This was an extremely difficult decision, made following careful consideration and analysis by our leadership, in order to best position the Group’s long-term growth.”

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the talented team members who will be departing the company for their significant contributions to Square Enix. During this period of transition, we remain committed to treating each individual with the utmost respect and providing extensive support throughout this process.”

This is the same report that also revealed the company’s hopes to use generative AI to automate up to 70% of its QA testing by the end of 2027. Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has stated in the past his desire for the company to be “aggressive in applying AI.” In 2023, the company received backlash for the release of an NFT game. It seems—with all of the AI, NFTs, and layoffs—that this current era for Square Enix involves hopping on anything that becomes popular within the tech industry, no matter the consequences to workers or their own reputation.