Clockmaker dev Belka Games cuts 20 percent of staff

33 people were laid off from Belka Games at the end of April, according to PocketGamer.

The social game studio cut 20 percent of its headcount across divisions such as level and narrative design, programming, and community. Lead narrative designer Alexander Pugachev assembled a list of all those let go for potential recruiters to see.

In a statement provided to WNHub, Belka explained the reductions were reflective of the company adjusting its business strategy. Going forward, it’ll be “more critical” of its games’ performance.

As spotted by WNHub, data from AppMagic alleges Belka had revenue fall by $5-6 million per month in 2023. By February of this year, its mobile earnings decreased to a reported $4.6 million.

CEO Alexander Bogdanov wrote that Belka was “grateful to everyone for their invaluable contribution…and we [will] use all our resources so that the guys can find new career opportunities.”

April ends with one final round of redundancies

Based in Cyprus, Belka is behind a number of mobile and PC titles like Clockmaker and Bermuda Adventures. Its most recent release is Roger That: Merge Adventure Games!.

Its layoffs are joined by the likes of Firesprite, Take-Two earlier in the month, and the publisher’s Seattle subsidiary.

In that same statement, Bogdanov underlined that Belka would prioritize making new hits and “preparing for the next stage of growth.”