It\u2019s the developers' third round of redundancies in two years<\/p>\n
Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology devs Supermassive Games have announced the beginning of redundancy consultations for up to 75 of its staff, a process that will almost certainly add to the thousands of layoffs endured by the games industry over the past few years.<\/p>\n
Posted on Not Twitter earlier today, the announcement of these imminient cuts comes just three months after Supermassive\u2019s most recent horror adventure, Directive 8020, and contains wording that\u2019s uncomfortably reminiscent of the studio\u2019s last round of mass redundancies in July last year. That, too, followed a previous round in early 2024, in which an estimated 90 workers at the UK-based studio lost their jobs.<\/p>\n
"This is a necessary step to help ensure the sustainability of the company," the most recent livelihood-axing JPG argues, while assuring that it was a "difficult decision" to begin the consultations. Last year\u2019s announcement called it a "very difficult decision," mind, so I guess it must have been slightly easier this time around.<\/p>\n
A statement from Supermassive Games. pic.twitter.com\/Vom1CSGYGs<\/p>\n
"We know this will be an incredibly difficult time for everyone, and our priority throughout the process will be to provide support to all those impacted."<\/p>\n
In fairness to the difficult decision makers at Supermassive \u2013 so, so difficult, which is why they\u2019ve made it thrice \u2013 they\u2019re far from alone in maintaining that staunch executive-class belief that surely, more can be made with less. Other recent mass cuttings range from ZA\/UM laying off 30 developers just after the launch of their Disco Elysium successor Zero Parades, all the way up to Microsoft slashing thousands of roles as part of their great studio sell-off. In the past week alone, Crossfire studio That\u2019s No Moon dropped 14 members of staff, Quantic Dream faced calls for strike action over the negotiation process for its planned 115 job cuts, and Halo: Campaign Evolved devs Halo Studios celebrated the FPS remake\u2019s launch by ending the employment of a 6-year senior contractor.<\/p>\n