Square Enix Cuts Jobs in US and UK to Centralize Game Development in Japan Square Enix is laying off developers in the United States and the United Kingdom as part of a major restructuring. The company is reworking its game development structure to consolidate functions within its studios in Japan. This move follows the publisher’s earlier announcement this year that it intends to aggressively apply artificial intelligence in its development process. While the exact number of affected employees has not been officially confirmed, reports suggest that over 100 developers in the UK, possibly up to 140, are impacted. The number of layoffs in the US remains unknown. In materials prepared for investors, Square Enix described this Overseas Structural Reform as a step toward its goal of centralizing development in Japan. The investor documents also revealed a specific target for automation. The company aims to use AI to handle 70 percent of quality assurance and debugging tasks in game development by the end of 2027. This push toward automation is seen as a likely factor in the decision to eliminate certain development roles in its Western offices. This is not the first time Square Enix has pulled back from Western game development. The publisher has made a series of similar attempts over the last decade. Earlier this year, it was involved in project cancellations at developer People Can Fly, and it conducted a round of mass layoffs in 2024. Going back further to 2013, the company made significant cuts to its US and European divisions, which included the sale of major studios like Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and Crystal Dynamics to the Embracer Group. This latest restructuring appears to be a continuation of that long-term strategy to refocus its operations on Japan.
