Thunderful Doubling Down on Game Publishing, Scaling Back Internal Development

Thunderful implements a new strategic restructuring program, increasing its focus on third-party game publishing while reducing investments in internal game projects. The program will lead to workforce reductions and the discontinuation of some internal game projects.

Thunderful announced earlier today through a press release that the company will go through a strategic restructuring program. The shift will entail a greater focus on third-party game publishing and a reduction in investments in internally developed projects. Shifting focus to external publishing will reduce the Group´s fixed costs and allow for greater flexibility, enabling faster, diverse game releases by leveraging external talent and resources in a balanced manner, while still retaining some internal development capacity.

“The strategic move towards publishing games from external partners puts us on the best path for a strong future in publishing, allowing us to reduce fixed costs, increase flexibility, and better control our cash flow,” says Martin Walfisz, CEO of Thunderful. “It is unfortunate to announce a second restructuring of Thunderful in less than a year, but we see no other alternatives in order to ensure the Group’s long-term sustainability and resilience. We have many talented and dedicated employees, and it is with great regret that we are forced to part ways.”

The restructuring program will result in the termination of a large portion of the development team, as well as other positions, both in and outside Sweden and is expected to impact 80-100 employees. Thunderful’s subsidiary Coatsink, long time standing partner of META, is not affected by the program.

Announced Thunderful Publishing titles are not expected to be affected by the restructuring and will be released as planned.

About Thunderful

Founded in 2017, Thunderful is a video game developer and publisher headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Thunderful publishes games made by its eight internal development studios located across Sweden, the U.K. and Germany, and also offers third-party publishing, co-development services and publishing support services. The company has published and/or developed award-winning and critically acclaimed titles such as the SteamWorld IP, Planet of Lana, Viewfinder, LEGO® Bricktales, Lost In Random and more.