Until Dawn Developer Suffers Brutal Layoffs To Ensure
Until Dawn Developer To Undergo Mass Layoffs To Ensure "Sustainability"
Ever since the studio's big breakout hit, Until Dawn, released in 2015, Supermassive Games has managed to establish itself as one of the few leading narrative studios that deal primarily in what many would call choice-based walking sims. Until Dawn was obviously the studio's biggest success, though it was also responsible for games like The Quarry, and the upcoming Directive 8020.
It seemed like a relatively successful studio that wasn't in any real danger of closure or redundancies, but unfortunately, it seems like the games industry has once again thrown a curveball.
Supermassive Games Is Undergoing Similarly Massive Layoffs
Earlier today, Supermassive Games released a statement via its social media account announcing that the studio will soon be undergoing a "redundancy consultation process" that will see roughly 75 people lose their jobs. In the post, Supermassive calls it a "necessary step to help ensure the sustainability of the company."
Thankfully, Supermassive has pledged support to those that will be affected by this move, though it doesn't exactly explain what form this support will take, whether it be helping look for new jobs or purely financial.
With this announcement, we can now add Supermassive to the growing pile of talented studios that have been gutted solely this year. Xbox made sure that beloved studios like Obsidian and iD Software would never function the same way again, laying off the vast majority of employees at both, while also celebrating the release of the new Halo by laying off employees there too.
It's gotten so bad recently that a recent survey revealed that almost a quarter of all game devs have been laid off in just the past two years. It's a tough industry, and it seems like it's just going to get tougher as big game publishers expect more and more money while prices and the cost of entry get higher and higher.