Life Is Strange Studio Don't Nod Facing Possible Insolvency and Layoffs, Last

Don’t Nod, the developer behind the earlier Life Is Strange entries, Jusant, and Aphelion, among others, has been facing difficulties in recent times, and the latest statement from Le Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo, a French game workers union, paints a grim picture.

With an announcement to financial press before employees, Don’t Nod has revealed it’s under a safeguard procedure to avoid full and complete insolvency. So far, the company has been unable to pay off its debts, and CEO Oskar Guilbert has told employees this safeguard process is “an act of anticipation”.

According to the STJV, leadership’s reaction has been slow at best after presenting employee representatives with two possible scenarios in late 2025. One talked of upcoming projects finding funding, but with staff still being laid off. Another pointed to the company potentially being liquidated. “What sort of forecast is it when a company doesn’t react for 11 months after that, and 5 months after its own auditors raised an alert in May of this year?”

As it stands, the second scenario is looking more and more likely, and the STJV isn’t convinced by the CEO’s recent actions and remarks. In fact, the union has criticised his “empty remarks on how much attention was paid to employees”, even accusing him of probably using ChatGPT to write it.

“Over the last few years, if one were to find a positive to Don’t Nod’s financials, it was the absence of debt. The problem when you run out of cash and keep running from your responsibilities is that you have to artificially go into debt to be able to freeze them and keep the fresh cash on-hand,” the union added.

The statement also goes on to add an upcoming project, only referred to as P14, likely won’t be able to continue development as layoffs that target non-managerial jobs are incoming. “Management is extremely clearly going for heavily individualized targeting and hasn’t been shy about their intent to keep selected people in rather than jobs, which is illegal.”

According to the STJV, management is “betting it all on outsourcing” to keep the game’s production moving along. Managers are expected to handle the shift to this model and take on the workload of fired employees. Needless to say, this raises all sorts of doubts about the final game’s quality due to the loss of experience and in-house talent.