Skydance offers buyouts and orders five-day RTO as mandate reaches Rocksteady, NetherRealm

Skydance offered voluntary buyouts and ordered a five-day return-to-office mandate on October 26, 2026. Both policies extend to Skydance Games, home to Rocksteady, NetherRealm and TT Games. Buyout eligibility covers staff with 15+ years tenure at VP rank or below. The cuts follow Skydance's $6 billion synergy target set after its $110 billion WBD acquisition.

Eligibility requires 15+ years of tenure, VP rank or below, and at-will status.
That band captures senior engineers and technical leads across the studios.
The memo does not disclose how many workers qualify or their payout terms.
Skydance has not named which teams, including game studios, are eligible.

Paramount-Skydance's 2025 merger carried a $2 billion cost target.
Management raised that target to $3 billion by November 2025.
An earlier RTO round triggered 1,000 layoffs and 600 voluntary exits in October 2025.
"As we bring our teams together, we recognize that not everyone will see their future here, and we respect that." - David Ellison, CEO, and Ynon Kreiz, co-CEO, Skydance

Skydance held $82.5 billion in debt and $7.9 billion in cash at June 30.
The company targets $6 billion in annual synergies within three years of the deal.
Skydance aims to cut debt by 2029 and hit $10 billion cash flow by 2030.
That math keeps cost pressure on every division, including Skydance Games.

For Publishers & Developers: Recruit departing fighting-game and action-adventure tech leads with remote-first offers.
For Investors & VC: Back spin-out studios founded by exiting senior engineers from the merged games division.
For Service Vendors: Pitch engine and tools co-dev capacity to the affected studios ahead of veteran exits.