It’s never fun to report on job layoffs. As the video game industry is becoming more and more unsustainable from a business perspective, firing people has gotten more common. Developer and publisher, Starbreeze Studios just announced the sad news that it would be cutting a large portion of its staff in order to be more profitable.
According to a Eurogamer report, the studio is laying off employees “to make the organisation more efficient and reduce costs.” This is a common occurrence in the video game industry, unfortunately. 60 employees will be let go in November 2019, reducing its staff of 240 down to 180.
The company, best-known for its work on the Payday series, has been in trouble as of late, with its most recent failure being Overkill’s The Walking Dead. This project released to poor critical reception on PC, so much so, that it was outright canceled on consoles. You don’t see that happen too often, and it just goes to show just how bad the game was, as well as the overall condition of the studio itself.
Starbreeze Studios is based in Sweden, where there are strict policies for the layoff process. According to a source from the studio, the layoffs will be lawful. The source told Eurogamer:
They have been very very open with everything, and they are actively looking to assist anyone affected, up to the point of allowing shared portfolio projects internally of office hours, and introductions to others companies in Stockholm.
At the very least, Swedish law has given these staff members time, something that ex-employees of other companies might not have had, sadly. Even still, we wish those impacted by the layoffs the very best and hope they land on their feet with ease.
The fate of the studio is uncertain, but for now, these layoffs will supposedly keep the company afloat, even if just for a little while.
[Source: Eurogamer]
