Supermassive Games, the developer behind Until Dawn, The Quarry, and the upcoming Little Nightmares III, is laying off roughly 90 employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The publication reports that 150 staff members at the British studio were informed today they are “at risk” of being laid off in accordance with U.K. labor laws that require companies to give notice ahead of layoffs.
Shortly after Bloomberg’s report went live, the studio tweeted the following statement:
It’s no secret that the games industry is currently facing significant challenges, and unfortunately we aren’t immune to this.
After much deliberation and with deep regret, we are therefore undertaking a reorganization of Supermassive Games. As a result, we are entering into a period of consultation, which we anticipate will result in the loss of some of our colleagues.
This is not a decision that’s been taken lightly, with many efforts made to avoid this outcome.
We are all too aware of how unsettling and difficult this process is going to be for all our employees and will be working closely with all those involved to ensure the process is conducted as respectfully and compassionately as possible.
We’re committed to focusing our efforts on our core strength and upcoming titles to ensure the continued sustainability of the company.”
A statement from Supermassive Games. pic.twitter.com/9GkgIrYQvt
— Supermassive Games (@SuperMGames) February 26, 2024
Bloomberg reports that Supermassive is made up of 300 employees, meaning laying off 90 people would equal a roughly 30 percent reduction in staff. Despite developing PlayStation exclusives like Until Dawn, Supermassive is part of Nordisk Games.
Last month, PlayStation announced that an Until Dawn remake is coming to PS5 and PC later this year, although UK developer Ballistic Moon is the primary team working on that. Supermassive is, however, developing Little Nightmares III, which is due out this year.
These job cuts join a string of other disheartening 2024 layoffs, which total more than 5,500 in just the first two months of the year. At the end of January, we learned Embracer Group had canceled a new Deus Ex game in development at Eidos-Montréal and laid off 97 employees in the process. Also in January, Destroy All Humans remake developer Black Forest Games reportedly laid off 50 employees and Microsoft announced it was laying off 1,900 employees across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams as well. Outriders studio People Can Fly laid off more than 30 employees in January, and League of Legends company Riot Games laid off 530 employees.
We recently learned Lords of the Fallen Publisher CI Games was laying off 10 percent of its staff, that Unity would be laying off 1,800 people by the end of March, and that Twitch had laid off 500 employees.
We also learned that Discord had laid off 170 employees, that layoffs happened at PTW, a support studio that’s worked with companies like Blizzard and Capcom, and that SteamWorld Build company, Thunderful Group, let go of roughly 100 people. Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive also reportedly laid off 45 people, too.
Last year, more than 10,000 people in the games industry or game-adjacent industries were laid off.
In January of last year, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees amidst its ongoing $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it completed in October.
Striking Distance Studios, the team behind 2022’s The Callisto Protocol, laid off more than 30 employees in August of 2023. That same month, Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare laid off 50 employees, including long-time studio veterans. The following month, in September, Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios laid off roughly 45% of its staff, and Fortnite developer Epic Games laid off 830 employees.
In October of last year, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog laid off at least 25 employees, and Telltale Games also underwent layoffs, although an actual number of affected employees has not yet been revealed. Dreams developer Media Molecule laid off 20 employees in late October.
In November, Amazon Games laid off 180 staff members, Ubisoft laid off more than 100 employees, Bungie laid off roughly 100 developers, and 505 Games’ parent company, Digital Bros, laid off 30% of its staff.
In December, Embracer Group closed its reformed TimeSplitters studio, Free Radical Design, and earlier in the year, Embracer closed Saints Row developer Volition Games, a studio with more than 30 years of development history. A few weeks before the winter holidays, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro laid off 1,100 employees.
The games industry will surely feel the effects of such horrific layoffs for years to come. The hearts of the Game Informer staff are with everyone who’s been affected by layoffs or closures.
[Source: Bloomberg]
