I feel like you just want mass layoffs to happen. Of course it is not possible to guarantee any number of games wont flop. But the fact is that they budget in a way that allows them to occasionally flop completely without having to strip their teams bare.

Where most companies (especially publically traded) just dump their earnings into bonuses or mass hirings (in the case of sudden success) some companies budget responsibly in a way that allows them to continue to have success without having to go through hiring/layoff-cycles.

Larian Studios currently seems to be one of those as does Pocket Pair.

See, your examples are all publically traded companies that basically only serve as moneymaking schemes for shareholders. Larian is still privately owned and founder & owner Swen Wincke recently stated in an interview that they had enough cash reserves to handle at least 1 total flop without the need to mass layoff people.

I’m much more inclined to believe him with the track record of Larian Studios recently over your armchair analysis.

Not true. They could have a decently stable developer base. That is, they don’t overhire and don’t “need” to have layoffs as a result.