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.

Families of the 29 victims killed in the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash are escalating their decades-long fight for answers, preparing to deliver a petition with more than 47,000 signatures to Downing Street demanding a public inquiry. The Chinook Justice Campaign has published 110 "critical questions" they want answered about the tragedy that claimed the lives of 25 intelligence experts and four special forces crew members when the aircraft crashed on the Mull of Kintyre on June 2, 1994.

The campaign comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer rejected calls for a judge-led inquiry into the incident, prompting families to declare they will "see the UK government in court." Among those delivering the petition on Tuesday are brothers Andy and Matt Tobias from Watford, whose father John Tobias was killed in the crash. The petition delivery will be accompanied by an attempt to deliver a letter directly to the Ministry of Defence.

Central to the families' concerns are questions about mission authorization, aircraft selection, and whether those on board were properly warned of risks. The campaign has gained momentum amid revelations that key documents related to the crash have been sealed until 2094—a century after the incident occurred. David Hill, technical expert for the Chinook Justice Campaign, characterized the government's position as "a betrayal by the state of them and their loved ones."

The crash investigation has followed a contentious path over the past three decades. Initial findings blamed pilot error for the tragedy, but this conclusion was overturned in 2011. The continuing secrecy surrounding the incident has drawn criticism from campaigners who argue it "undermines trust not only in the MoD but in the government itself." As families prepare to confront the government directly, the case represents one of Britain's longest-running military accountability battles.