Skydance has begun cutting jobs in its games division. The layoffs come about a month after the company closed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Skydance has not said how many people lost their jobs.

Affected workers have been posting on LinkedIn. Many list Paramount Games or Skydance Interactive as their employer, and the posts point to large layoffs, Vertical Slice reported. David Ballard, an associate design director at Paramount Games, posted that he had been laid off. He added that several of his coworkers were also affected. One Skydance Interactive programmer says most of her team was let go. Skydance has not issued a statement confirming the cuts.

The cuts reach the home of Mortal Kombat and Hogwarts Legacy

The merged Skydance Games division owns the studios behind Mortal Kombat, Batman: Arkham, Hogwarts Legacy and the Lego games. That puts some of the best-known series in gaming inside the unit now shedding staff. The posts so far come from former Paramount Games and Skydance Interactive developers. An internal FAQ given to staff said units such as WB Games would keep their own brand identities within the division.

WB Games has made deep cuts before. In February 2025, it closed Monolith Productions, Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. It also canceled Monolith’s Wonder Woman game. That move was meant to focus the publisher on Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones. For players, the question is whether the new owner will narrow the slate again.

A savings target of more than $6 billion hangs over the studios

Layoffs were flagged from the start. A 1,705-word ‘Day 1’ memo from chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz warned employees that layoffs would be part of combining the two companies. Variety published the memo.

The company wants to cut more than $6 billion in annual costs within three years. It has not said how many jobs it expects to eliminate. TheWrap reported that executives expect most of the savings to come from areas other than staff, such as real estate and combined streaming technology. The cuts in games show that staff reductions are still part of the plan.

A second memo from Ellison and Kreiz, dated October 26, offered some employees a one-time voluntary buyout. It also required staff to work in the office five days a week. The game layoffs follow both measures.

Skydance holds its third-quarter earnings call at 5 p.m. ET on November 9, its first since the deal closed.

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