In yet another round of bad news for the gaming industry,Until DawnandThe Dark Picturesdeveloper Supermassive Games is about to be hit by a wave of layoffs.
As reported byBloomberg, the studio has notified 150 employees that their jobs are potentially being cut in the near future. Supermassive Games is expected to lay off 90 employees, just under a third of its approximately 300 person team.
The company tweeted out astatementaddressing the upcoming changes and the process it’s undergoing to decide which positions are being removed. As part of the move, the company said, “We are entering into a period of consultation, which we anticipate will result in the loss of some of our colleagues.” The company said it plans to “focus our efforts on our core strengths and upcoming titles.”
A statement from Supermassive Games.pic.twitter.com/9GkgIrYQvt
Supermassive Games is the company behind some spectacular horror games likeUntil Dawn. The studio released another horror hit,The Quarry, in 2022, the same year that the company was acquired byNordisk Games, and is currently working onLittle Nightmares 3and anew horror gameset in theDead by Daylightuniverse.
Working in the video game industry is never easy, but it feels particularly rough out there right now. In 2023 we saw roughly9,000 layoffs in the gaming industry. The effects ripple out beyond just game developers, withcompanies like Twitchalso being affected. Unfortunately, 2024 doesn’t seem to be bucking that trend anytime soon. In January alone we saw layoffs and canceled games from developers likeBlack Forest GamesandEidos Montreal. Supermassive Games is the latest studio to get hit with layoffs, but it seems unlikely to be the last.
