Don't Nod is in financial strife, opens safeguard proceedings

The company behind Life is Strange does not have a cash position to ‘secure all financing requirements.’

Don’t Nod, the studio behind the Life is Strange series, is in dire straits. The Paris Business Court has granted the company a request to open safeguard proceedings, essentially freezing its liabilities and allowing it time to formulate a plan.

On October 20, 2026, Oskar Guilbert, Chairman and CEO of Don’t Nod, released a statement about the financial position of the company. Guilbert notes that despite cost savings achieved, and a partnership with Netflix in Canada, the company’s poor cash position does not allow it to cover the costs of all its operations and projects.

“Nevertheless, the video game industry continues to face an exceptionally challenging environment, marked in particular by highly selective access to financing,” Guilbert writes. “In this context, our current cash position does not allow us to adequately secure all the financing requirements associated with our operations and projects.”

To that end, the Paris Business Court has granted Guilbert’s request to open safeguard proceedings of Don’t Nod. Guilbert notes that the “application to open safeguard proceedings is a proactive,” and it is intended to build a “sustainable solution.”

Despite this, Guilbert acknowledges the impact this will have on the team. The statement indicates that there are likely layoffs inbound for the studio behind the recent Aphelion, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, and Vampyr:

“We are fully aware of the impact of this period of transformation on our teams, particularly for employees affected by the planned organizational changes.”

Saint Louis Avocats notes that safeguard proceedings (sauvegarde) “stays enforcement actions, freeze the liabilities and provide time to build a continuation plan, while leaving the director in charge.” It’s not a good position for Don’t Nod to be in, but at the very least it’s a plan to try and stay in business.

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