NBA 2K Developer Visual Concepts Suffers Its Second Round Of Layoffs In Six Months

2K Games subsidiary Visual Concepts, the studio behind NBA 2K and Lego 2K Drive, has been hit with a second round of job cuts following the mass layoffs in September 2023.

Former art manager Brad Bowling confirmed the unfortunate news on LinkedIn, saying, ”The games industry bloodletting continues. Today, Visual Concepts Austin laid off myself and a group of very talented developers. I have had a great time over the past couple of years working with some of the finest game devs in the industry.”

“Over the past 23 years of making game art, I have seen some downturns but nothing like this. If anyone is in need of someone with my 'particular set of skills' please reach out,” he added.

Former associate software engineer Sidney F, who has now been laid off twice in as many years, corroborated the news in a separate post on the platform: “Well after a great year of working at Visual Concepts Austin it’s sad to say I've been laid off as of today along with several other amazing colleagues. I will miss all of those that I worked with greatly. It’s definitely rough as it’s only been a year and a half since I was previously laid off as well. Even in this tough market I found a job once I can hopefully do it again.”

Like last year’s layoffs, which included Executive Producer Joseph Cowan, the exact number of affected employees remains unclear. Several other studios under the 2K Games and Take-Two Interactive umbrella have also been hit with mass layoffs over the past two years, adding to the growing number of job cuts throughout the video game and tech industries over the past two years.