Cold Iron Studios Cuts Staff, Delays Switch 2 Port to Early 2027

Cold Iron Studios, the developer behind the co-op shooter Aliens: Fireteam Elite, has announced layoffs — and the studio's upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game has slipped from its previously expected window to "early 2027."

The announcement bundles two signals that rarely travel alone in game development: headcount reductions and a delayed release. For a mid-sized studio shipping a port of an existing title, that combination typically points to a re-scoped production schedule, with fewer hands working over a longer runway.

The details of the restructuring — how many employees are affected, which teams, and what severance terms apply — were not specified in the announcement. The studio also did not provide a narrower release window beyond the "early 2027" designation for the Switch 2 launch, leaving a multi-quarter gap between now and the port's arrival.

For the affected workers, the timing lands in a games industry labor market that has absorbed repeated waves of studio closures and project cancellations over the past two years. Developers with live-service and co-op shooter experience — the core of Cold Iron's production profile — remain in demand at larger publishers, but displaced mid-career staff in ports and platform-support roles often face longer search cycles, since those positions concentrate in a smaller number of studios and outsourcing vendors.

For players, the practical takeaway is straightforward: anyone waiting to run the Alien-themed three-player co-op campaign on Nintendo's current hardware now has a wait measured in years, not months.

The Switch 2 port now targets early 2027, and the studio has not said whether the layoffs will affect that window again.