Firesprite Games has shared a new message confirming the end of layoffs in the studio.
On Twitter, they said this:
“Like several other teams across SIE and PlayStation Studios, Firesprite was impacted by redundancies announced in February of this year. These past few months have been an incredibly challenging period for our studio whilst we underwent a difficult and lengthy consultation process.
During this time, we have been focused on providing support to all those affected amidst these demanding circumstances.
As the consultation period now draws to a close, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all of the incredible and talented colleagues who will always remain a part of our story. We face the future with resilience and determination, united in our vision to deliver unforgettable gaming experiences to our players.”
Firesprite was founded in 2012, by former members of Psygnosis, AKA Sony’s Studio Liverpool. While Firesprite started out independent, they were acquired by Sony in 2021. They were then set to work on Horizon: Call of the Mountain, and the now cancelled live service Twisted Metal game.
As Firesprite had pointed out, they were one of many Sony owned studios affected by layoffs announced by Sony from this February. Those planned layoffs added up to 900 employees, and included the creative director of Horizon: Call of the Mountain. But there is a sadder, more sordid backstory to this.
A Eurogamer investigation into the studio found that the company had become a toxic work environment, over development of Horizon: Call of the Mountain. In the months before the layoff announcement, many Firesprite employees left on their own to get out of the situation.
The mess started with crunch implemented to get Horizon: Call of the Mountain out the door on schedule. Sony put in people from XDev, another Sony owned studio, to take charge of Firesprite after all but one of their founders left. Those new studio heads from XDev were then accused of sex and age discrimination, but Sony dismissed said allegations.
So, if this report was true, Firesprite has been spiraling for some time. We don’t know what state the studio is now at this point, but we do hope that they can move forward with their upcoming projects.
Now, Sony has not announced it, but the rumors going around is that Firesprite is working on a horror game codenamed Project Heartbreak, which may be a sequel to Until Dawn. Notably, Sony and Firesprite have yet to announce or show it, including in last month’s State of Play. Hopefully they will be able to show it in the near future.
