Ustwo shifts to contractors as PC-first strategy cuts costs

Ustwo Games is redrawing its studio model around one hard number: the cost of making a game is too high to keep funding the old way. Maria Sayans said the Monument Valley developer has been building titles that run between £7 million and £10 million over production cycles of three to four years, and that future projects will rely more on contractors and a smaller permanent core.

That is the clearest sign yet that Ustwo’s PC-first pivot is not just about platform ports, it is about who makes the game and how long the studio can afford to keep them. Sayans said the company’s earlier relationships with Netflix and Apple are “not a solid base to build a long term business around,” a blunt assessment from a studio that spent years moving beyond its mobile roots with releases of Monument Valley, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure and Assemble with Care on Steam and Nintendo Switch.

The move matters because PC-first development changes the pressure points. A studio can chase a broader audience and more direct sales, but it also loses the cushion that comes from a platform deal that can underwrite a launch. Ustwo’s own Monument Valley 3 launched on PC and consoles on July 22, 2025, including Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. That wider release showed the audience was there, but it did not erase the economics. Netflix removed Monument Valley 3 from its service about six months after launch, which Sayans described as a surprise.

Ustwo had already begun cutting back before this latest staffing shift. In February 2026, the studio made four people redundant as part of the PC-first transition. Later reporting on Sayans’ April comments said Ustwo now employs just under 30 people, down from a peak of around 40 during Monument Valley 3’s development, with contractors expected to fill more of the gaps going forward.

For players, the tradeoff is easy to see. A contractor-heavy model can keep the studio alive and make it easier to scale for a port, a co-development job or a burst of production work. It can also mean less continuity from one game to the next, fewer long-term hires who live with a series for years, and more creative risk if the studio leans too hard on short-term help. Sayans said Ustwo’s old staffing mindset was too “romantic” about permanent jobs and long-term security. In a market where even respected indie studios are being forced to trim their burn, that romance is getting priced out.