Once again there is bad news to announce from the gaming industry. Since the beginning of 2023, many development studios have been forced to cut jobs on a large scale. Now Deck Nine Games and People Can Fly announce that they are laying off numerous employees. This is the second wave of layoffs this year for both studios.
Deck Nine Games, the developers of Life is Strange: Before the Storm and True Colors, had to lay off 20 percent of their workforce back in February. And People Can Fly also resigned around 30 employees in January.
Projects are also affected
Deck Nine Games share the unpleasant news in oneStatement on Twitter/X. It does not explain how many employees will be laid off. The reason for the measure will bechallenging times
stated:
This was an extremely difficult decision and reflects the challenging times that many companies in our industry are currently facing.
It was only at the end of October that Deck Nine Games released Life is Strange: Double Exposure, the long-awaited successor to the popular adventure series. In the test we praised the gripping story,:
Reported on the layoffs at People Can Flythe studio on Linkedin. Across different teamsover 120 employeesdismissed. This also has an impact on several unannounced projects. That's how it will beProject Victoria
completely set and the team fromProject Bifrost
reduced in size. Four more games are still in development.
People Can Fly also justifies the layoffs with the current economic situation:
This action became necessary because external market pressures continued beyond our predictions. The video game market is still evolving and we have to adapt to the way things are today.
In the past few months and years, an extraordinary number of developers have been affected by layoffs, which have not stopped even at the largest studios. Especially after a failure like the recent Suicide Squad, teams were often reduced in size or even completely disbanded.
You can read why there is hope for an improvement in the situation in the coming year in our detailed Plus report on the topic.
