Hi-Rez Studios has announced layoffs and other changes in the company.
The company’s CEO Stewart Chisam shared this statement on Twitter:
“Today, we’re making some difficult but necessary changes to ensure Hi-Rez’s long-term success, with a specific focus on positioning SMITE 2 for a long and sustainable future.
As part of this internal reorganization and reprioritization, we are laying off some team members across Hi-Rez. This will disproportionately impact those in marketing and publishing roles, as well as some from our Evil Mojo, G&A, and Titan Forge divisions. The game team roles impacted disproportionally affect our team working on cosmetic skin content and system features.”
Chisam then went on to share a proper set of apology, taking responsibility for his own mistakes that led to this decision, and thanking his employees for their work. While we are used to CEOs and executives seemingly sharing empty sentiments, there is a difference with Chisam.
Hi-Rez is a smaller company than the likes of Take-Two Interactive, but it isn’t that small. They have 5 subsidiaries and currently support five live service titles. Chisam taking personal responsibility seems directly connected to fans blaming him for poor decision making that’s led to their games to grow unpopular and get abandoned after they find success.
Chisam’s own Twitter account even seems to acknowledge this criticism, as he has written this in on his Twitter profile description:
“You don’t have to confront me with my failures. I have not forgotten them.”
Chisam has also revealed that Hi-Rez’ immediate goals are to focus on Smite 2. They will still have teams supporting updates for Paladins and the first Smite, but this statement does mean they are going to end updates for Global Agenda, Realm Royale, Rogue Company, and Divine Knockout.
Chisam then points out that they now have more developers working on Smite 2, than they had working on Smite when the first game had been in the same point in its lifecycle. He then revealed their long term objective:
“Our goal for SMITE 2 in the near term is to create the best possible game experience for our community and a game that provides joy to players and can sustain itself long into the 2030s.”
Smite 2 is still slated to release this year to PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Chisam’s statement reflects our own sentiments for the people about to leave Hi-Rez Studios, and we do hope they can find placement back in the video game industry. It doesn’t sound like Hi-Rez is in the same peril that Ubisoft is in, but it’s still sad to see an up-and-coming mover in the industry suddenly see its ambitions and growth hit this standstill.
Whatever mistakes Hi-Rez Studios’ management have made in the company’s lifetime, they may not have led to consequences this dire if the industry and business was in a healthier state right now. We should be cheering for companies like them, even if you aren’t a fan of their games, because their success would reflect on how well the industry itself is doing as a whole.
