We have seen far too many reports lately of the video game industry getting hit with layoffs. Seeing another studio come out with layoffs is always disheartening, but that’s the case again today. We’re finding out that Supermassive Games will be the next major studio that will be cutting back some of its staffing.
The report initially came out from Bloomberg and was sent via an email circulated among Supermassive Games staff. Essentially, it seems that 150 individuals within the studio are at risk of redundancy. With the studio that employs over 300 staff, this would still be a massive number of redundant jobs that could be eliminated. However, it seems that only 90 employees will undergo layoffs.
News emerged about the upcoming layoffs due to UK laws requiring advanced notice of a mass layoff. Since this news broke, Supermassive Games released an online statement alerting followers that the studio was not immune to the recent challenges the games industry is dealing with. However, after deliberation, the studio regrets having to deal with the loss of some of their colleagues. You can read the entire statement posted by Supermassive Games from their official X account below.
With that said, the layoffs in the industry are nothing new right now. We’ve seen countless studios experience layoffs, game cancellations, and even some studios having to close their doors for good. But it seems that we’re still dealing with the blowback from the post-pandemic years. When the pandemic hit, there was a major bump in sales for the games industry as it was a means to provide entertainment content for those who were stuck inside and socially distancing from others.
However, now that the pandemic has subsided, we’re slowly seeing the games industry settle back down, causing some studios to cut back on the recent mass hiring’s. Supermassive Games is just the latest name for this trend of layoffs. That said, it seems like the studio is still pressing on with their current projects. For instance, we know that the studio is bringing out Little Nightmares III and The Casting of Frank Stone this year. Furthermore, they are pressing forward with The Dark Pictures Anthology with Directive 8020, but that particular game doesn’t have a launch window attached just yet, so odds are we won’t see that title make its way out into the marketplace this year.
