10 Chambers announces layoffs including co-founders

Swedish studio 10 Chambers, known for GTFO, has confirmed significant layoffs affecting a large number of roles, including several co-founders, as it restructures to focus on upcoming game Den of Wolves. The news emerged on February 13, 2026, via LinkedIn posts from affected employees. Co-founders Ulf Andersson and Simon Viklund remain committed to the project.

Den of Wolves, a cyberpunk heist shooter, was revealed at The Game Awards 2023 with a cinematic trailer but has no release date more than two years later. The game applies a harsh gameplay formula similar to the studio's previous title, GTFO, which entered Early Access in 2019 and gained a devoted following, reaching nearly 20,000 concurrent players on Steam and earning thousands of positive reviews. GTFO featured cooperative horror gameplay where players fought mutants and completed objectives in underground complexes.

News of the layoffs at 10 Chambers broke on February 13, 2026, when individual developers shared their experiences on LinkedIn. One affected employee wrote, “This wasn’t on my 2026 bingo card, but here we are wearing the green LinkedIn banner for a while.” The studio issued a statement confirming the changes: “We can confirm that we’re taking a hard look at how we work and how the studio is set up, so Den of Wolves can become the game it deserves to be. This unfortunately means a significant restructuring of the studio, impacting a large number of roles, including several of the studio’s co-founders.”

The statement added, “We remain focused on the vision of Den of Wolves. Ulf Andersson and Simon Viklund remain fully committed to the game and to leading the studio forward. When we have more concrete news to share, we’ll do it through our official channels.” It is unclear which members of the original nine-person team remain.

Co-founder and chief development officer Hjalmar Vikström announced his departure earlier that week after a decade at the studio. He wrote on LinkedIn, “Next up for me is going indie–making way smaller games, focusing on health and family, and just enjoying game development.” Vikström reflected, “If you know me you’ve heard this before: Making games is hard. And these past years have taken their toll. But thinking back I’m proud of how we managed to punch above our weight and deliver GTFO.”

Den of Wolves combines smash-and-grab heists with hacking into human mind vaults for data retrieval. A December 2025 community trailer showed pre-heist stealth, live firefights, and mechanical Sentinels. Studio communications director Robin Björkell noted in December, “I’ve been begging management to give us a release window for Den of Wolves in the trailer–but no. They won’t budge. These developers really don’t want to make promises they can’t keep for the sake of marketing.”

The layoffs occur amid broader industry challenges, with development schedules lengthening and investment decreasing.

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