{"id":500,"date":"2026-07-18T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/?p=500"},"modified":"2026-07-18T00:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:00:22","slug":"zero-parades-dev-announces-layoffs-despite-games-critical-acclaim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/?p=500","title":{"rendered":"Zero Parades Dev Announces Layoffs Despite Game\u2019s Critical Acclaim"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another day, another layoff announcement. This time it comes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/games\/zero-parades-for-dead-spies\/\" data-type=\"games\" data-id=\"607184\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zero Parades: For Dead Spies<\/a> developer ZA\/UM, which said on social media that despite the game&#8217;s critical acclaim, the studio can&#8217;t sustain the size of its team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ZA\/UM <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/zaumstudio.bsky.social\/post\/3mqu7qi4txc24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">took to Bluesky on July 17<\/a> to share the unfortunate news. The team said that although Zero Parades reviewed well, &#8220;its commercial performance&#8221; made it difficult for the studio to maintain its current employee count. As a result, the company has &#8220;served redundancy or at-risk notices&#8221; to up to 32 staffers at the RPG studio.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:d24j3g5gvhyelz5cpqbaogql\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mqu7qi4txc24\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreidxfdbva6oi6xrsvurlzzxaj4f7pf6hefgu46len4gmnidfoj2hmi\">\n<p lang=\"en\">\n<p>&mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:d24j3g5gvhyelz5cpqbaogql?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ZA\/UM Studio (@zaumstudio.bsky.social)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:d24j3g5gvhyelz5cpqbaogql\/post\/3mqu7qi4txc24?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026-07-17T16:55:35.128Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Throughout this difficult process, we have continued to consult and work with representatives of the ZA\/UM Workers&#8217; Alliance,&#8221; the studio wrote on Bluesky. &#8220;This changes the shape of ZA\/UM, but not its purpose. Our artistic standards remain unchanged: We will persist.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is the second game from ZA\/UM following the studio&#8217;s 2019 outing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/games\/disco-elysium\/\" data-type=\"games\" data-id=\"327889\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disco Elysium<\/a>. Released in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/disco-elysium-studios-zero-parades-for-dead-spies-launches-this-may\/1100-6539110\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 2026 for PC with a PS5 version coming later this year<\/a>, Zero Parades is an isometric espionage RPG about a female operative named Hershel Wilk who&#8217;s tasked with uncovering the secrets of her haunted past. It&#8217;s chilling and thrilling in the best ways, receiving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/reviews\/zero-parades-for-dead-spies-review-cascading-choices\/1900-6418491\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an 8\/10 in GameSpot&#8217;s Zero Parades: For Dead Spies review<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/game\/zero-parades-for-dead-spies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an 83 score on Metacritic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ZA\/UM is the latest developer to suffer layoffs, as 2026 has seen the games industry rattled by myriad studio closures and employee terminations. Earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/xbox-layoffs-studio-closures-and-spin-offs-everything-announced-today\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Xbox let go of 1,600 staffers<\/a> as part of its big &#8220;reset&#8221; earlier this month, with another 1,600 planned to get laid off in the next 12 months. Skate studio Full Circle was also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/skate-studio-lays-off-staff-as-game-enters-next-chapter\/1100-6538430\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hit with layoffs<\/a> in February 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/2xko-developers-laid-off-by-riot-games-less-than-a-month-after-console-release\/1100-6538046\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as was 2XKO developer Riot Games<\/a> in the same month. Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/sony-shuts-down-bluepoint-games-dev-behind-consistently-great-remakes\/1100-6538292\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sony shut down Bluepoint Games<\/a>, the developer responsible for some excellent remakes, in February as well. It seems like everywhere you look, another layoff happens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another day, another layoff announcement. This time it comes from Zero Parades: For Dead Spies developer ZA\/UM, which said on social media that despite the game&#8217;s critical acclaim, the studio can&#8217;t sustain the size of its team. ZA\/UM took to Bluesky on July 17 to share the unfortunate news. The team said that although Zero [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimoneylab.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}