Eidos-Montréal Lays Off 124 Staff, Studio Head David Anfossi Departs

The man who helped shepherd Deus Ex and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy through production spent nearly two decades at Eidos-Montréal, rising through the ranks to serve as studio head for more than ten years. On March 30, 2026, David Anfossi's time at the studio ended, alongside the jobs of 124 of his colleagues.

Eidos-Montréal confirmed both the workforce reduction and the leadership transition in a LinkedIn statement, attributing the layoffs to "changing project needs and impacts across production and support teams." The studio added that the cuts "are not a reflection of talent, dedication, or performance," a phrase common to corporate announcements but notable given the scale of the reduction at one of Quebec's flagship game development houses.

The cuts follow a sustained pattern of headcount reductions across Embracer Group's portfolio. Since 2023, the Swedish publisher and its constellation of studios have cycled through waves of consolidation and cost-cutting tied to project cancellations and shifting production priorities. Eidos-Montréal had already absorbed prior rounds of layoffs under that umbrella; the March 2026 tranche of 124 employees represents another large-scale reduction in what has become a recurring story for Embracer-owned studios.

Anfossi's departure carries particular weight. Having spent close to two decades at the studio, he oversaw some of its most ambitious projects and was closely tied to the creative identity of both the Deus Ex series and the studio's more recent Marvel work. Losing that institutional knowledge alongside more than a hundred production and support staff leaves Eidos-Montréal in a significantly different shape than it was even a year ago.

For Quebec's development sector, the timing stings. Montreal and the broader Quebec tech corridor have long positioned themselves as North American AAA hubs, with studios like Eidos-Montréal central to that reputation. Repeated reductions at Embracer-owned properties raise harder questions about whether parent-level pipeline decisions and large-scale budget pressures are hollowing out studios that took years to build.

Whether Embracer consolidates further, pivots toward co-development arrangements, or sheds more of its portfolio remains an open question. What is already clear is that Eidos-Montréal enters its next chapter with fewer people, no long-standing studio head, and a production roadmap that just got harder to read.