Airship Syndicate, the studio working on Wayfinder, has instituted layoffs.
Polygon reporter Nicole Carpenter shared the details on Twitter:
“Layoffs are happening today at Wayfinder developer Airship Syndicate, several people have told me. Scope unclear at this time, but have reached out to the company for more info. Last year, publisher Digital Extremes divested from Wayfinder and also laid off workers.
Confirmed 12 people laid off. President Ryan Stefanelli and CEO Joe Madureira will cut their pay, too. “This decision was made to ensure that Airship Syndicate can continue to operate and deliver great experiences,” a rep tells me. It’s not often you see execs taking pay cuts.”
For those who may not remember, Wayfinder was announced in the 2022 The Game Awards, then published by Digital Extremes. Wayfinder is a free-to-play MMO with a fantasy setting. Some fans drew parallels to it and Digital Extremes’ own title, Warframe, and it does owe some of its game design to that studio’s influence.
Unfortunately, Wayfinder suffered with a poor launch, and up until now, has faced particular struggles with its user base and servers. The number of players is comparatively low for a healthy live service game, but Airship Syndicate is part of the reason for that. Players are still dealing with slow loading times, and frequently get kicked out of servers. When they do try to jump back in, they find themselves waiting on long queues, indicating that the game’s servers haven’t been scaled up to accommodate even the player base they have now.
Airship Syndicate revealed a roadmap for six months of Early Access that should be ending this month. So far, the studio has not shared more information confirming the full release. They have also not made any statements hinting at a delay.
It’s heartening that Airship Syndicate’s management has made themselves accountable for their decision to lay off workers, by cutting their own salaries. Unfortunately, this news is also a sign that the company itself is struggling to keep the lights on.
In their end of the year update just a few weeks ago, Airship Syndicate promised that they were working on server issues and load times, aside from the expected gameplay and balance tweaks. We certainly hope that they can live up to these promises to the players. We also understand the challenges of a fledgling studio that has yet to prove themselves. It’s unfortunate that they are also facing these challenges in what is already a terrible business environment for the industry.
We wish the outgoing members of Airship Syndicate the best and hope they can find placement back in the industry. We hope that their work on Wayfinder won’t be in vain and the title also finds its direction and its place in the market as well.
