Avalanche Studios Group, the Swedish developer behind the Just Cause franchise, is undergoing significant restructuring that includes the complete closure of its Liverpool office and workforce reductions at its Malmö and Stockholm locations. The announcement comes as the gaming industry faces broader challenges, with the studio citing "current challenges within our operations and the industry as a whole" as driving factors behind the difficult decisions.

The Liverpool office closure will follow a formal consultation process in accordance with UK employment law, though the exact number of affected employees across all studios remains unspecified. This marks the latest in a series of organizational changes for the developer, which previously closed its New York and Montreal offices earlier this year. Management has emphasized their commitment to supporting impacted staff during this transition period.

The restructuring follows Microsoft's cancellation of Contraband, a co-op project that Avalanche had been developing in partnership with Xbox Game Studios for four years. While Avalanche has not explicitly named the project cancellation as the direct cause for its restructuring, sources close to the situation indicate the redundancies represent a significant percentage of the company's workforce and are directly linked to Contraband's termination.

Despite these challenges, Avalanche Studios maintains that its core vision of creating vibrant game worlds remains intact. The company stated it believes these changes are "necessary to ensure a stable and sustainable future" while acknowledging the difficulty of the decisions. The gaming industry continues to navigate a period of consolidation and adjustment, with Avalanche joining numerous other developers in implementing cost-cutting measures amid evolving market conditions.

London's Metropolitan Police has reversed its longstanding position on grooming gangs in the capital, acknowledging for the first time that it has multiple active investigations into group-based child sexual exploitation. The shift came after an investigation by MyLondon and The Daily Express challenged official statements from both police leadership and Mayor Sadiq Khan, who had consistently maintained there were "no reports" or "no indication" of Rochdale or Rotherham-style rape gangs operating in London.

The investigation uncovered evidence from four separate His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reports spanning 2016 to 2025 that documented at least six potential victims of grooming gang abuse. These case studies, which the Mayor of London personally responded to according to public statements, described children as young as 13 being exploited by groups of predatory men. The reports detailed how girls were plied with drugs and alcohol, raped in hotels by multiple perpetrators, and subjected to life-threatening situations.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley revealed to Assembly Members at City Hall that the force now acknowledges a "steady flow" of live multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations and a "very significant" number of historic cases requiring reinvestigation. The commissioner estimated these reviews would cost "millions of pounds a year, for several years" to properly investigate, contradicting previous assertions that the force had "not seen" such cases in London.

Political figures including Reform UK MP Lee Anderson and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp have criticized the mayor's handling of the situation, with Anderson stating there is "real, credible evidence that grooming gangs exist in London" and Philp alleging that Khan is "facilitating a cover-up." A spokesman for the mayor maintained that Khan has "always been clear that the safety of Londoners is his top priority" and remains "committed to doing all he can to protect children in London."