The studio behind SCUM, Gamepires, has shared that they have laid off employees to reduce the size of the team, citing challenging market conditions.
SCUM launched in 2018 and quickly solidified itself as one of the biggest names in the survival games genre, exceeding a million sales in its first month. It’s known for taking place in a punishing open world, where deep character customization and your actions define the prisoner you become.
The game remained in Early Access until June 2025, after a slew of updates continued to evolve the title in unique ways. Even after the launch of version 1.0, the game updates keep on coming.
Although the statement from Croatia-based Gamepires doesn’t give too much away, it marks another disappointing milestone in game development and the video game industry as a whole.
SCUM Developer is the Latest Studio to Suffer Layoffs
In an announcement posted on the official SCUM X account, Gamepires informs players that “a difficult decision has been made to reduce the size of the Gamepires team, which means saying goodbye to colleagues who’ve helped shape SCUM and the studio.”
As listed on the Gamepires website, the studio is made up of over 65...
