Auroch Digital lays off a quarter of staff, its second owner in four years

Auroch Digital opened a redundancy consultation affecting around a quarter of its 51-200 staff on October 26. The Bristol studio cited the same market conditions pressuring developers industry-wide. Sumo Group acquired Auroch Digital for $8.3 million in 2021. Roundtable Interactive bought the studio from Sumo Group in 2025.

Auroch Digital says development and support for Warhammer Survivors and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 will continue.
Management called its recent releases, including Boltgun 2 and Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!, well received by players.
"Despite that creative success, the same market conditions that have challenged so many of our fellow developers have now also affected us." - Auroch Digital, LinkedIn statement
The studio frames the cuts as a sector-wide pressure rather than a result of title performance.

Sumo Group acquired Auroch Digital for $8.3 million in 2021.
Roundtable Interactive bought the studio from Sumo Group in 2025.
The redundancy consultation follows that resale by about a year.
Fishlabs cut development and support staff and EA confirmed BioWare's closure in the same period, placing Auroch's cuts within a wider contraction among licensed-IP and work-for-hire studios.

For Publishers & Developers: Add owner-stability and runway checks before awarding licensed-IP co-dev or work-for-hire contracts.
For Investors & VC: Discount valuations of carve-out studios bought from consolidators, assuming headcount cuts within a year.
For Service Vendors: Pitch outsourced live-ops, QA and porting capacity to downsized studios still committed to post-launch roadmaps.