Outriders Udvikler People Can Fly fyrer angiveligt "over 30" medarbejdere

Genudgivet af Platon

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People Can Fly, the developer behind the likes of Outriders and Bulletstorm, has reportedly laid off “over 30 people” working on a currently unannounced game – codenamed Project Gemini – that’s set to be published by Square Enix.

As rapporteret af Kotaku, People Can Fly-udviklingsdirektør Adam Alker annoncerede fyringerne i en e-mail sendt til alle medarbejdere, der arbejder på projektet, og forklarede, at nedskæringerne blev foretaget på grund af budgetbegrænsninger og dets faldende omfang. Yderligere 20 personer skal også forlade Project Gemini, men vil blive flyttet til andre titler i virksomheden.

“We understand that this decision impacts each of you,” Alker wrote in the email, “and we want to express our gratitude for your hard work, dedication, and contributions thus far.”

Addressing “those individuals transitioning out of the studio due to these changes”, Alker added, “We extend our sincere appreciation for the skills and expertise you brought to the team [and] will keep our fingers crossed for your next steps in game dev and offer all our support.”

Project Gemini was revealed to be in the works at People Can Fly (alongside four “AAA” titles and two VR games) last January, with a planned release of 2026. However, an opdatering om Project Gemini shared in November noted the studio was entering into “strategic discussions” with Square Enix and that it was “highly probable” development “will not be continued… on the current commercial terms”. That news followed September’s announcement Take-Two Interactive had trukket sig ud af et partnerskab to publish People Can Fly’s Project Dagger after two years of development, but that work would continue.

Studiet arbejder også på Microsoft-finansieret Project Maverick, based on one of the latter’s IP. Little is known about the title beyond its $30m-50m budget, but rumours persist Microsoft is gearing up for a major Gears of War revival.

People Can Fly is yet to confirm today’s report of layoffs at the studio but they would mark the latest in an already devastating month for the games industry. As per Kotaku’s tally, over 3,900 job cuts have already been announced in 2024 among the likes of Riot Games, Unity, Lost Boys Interactive, Thunderful, Twitchog Adfærd interaktiv. That’s compared what’s menes at være omkring 9,500 industrifyringer i 2023.