Until Dawn and The Quarry developer Supermassive Games reportedly plans to lay off 90 staff
The horror-centric studio seems like the latest to join 2024’s long string of companies cutting jobs.
Supermassive Games, the developer of horror hits Until Dawn and The Quarry, is reportedly planning to lay off 90 workers, with 150 having been informed that they’re at risk of redundancy.
The British studio, which started off working on DLC for LittleBigPlanet and has since worked with the likes of Sony and Take-Two Interactive as publishers, will deliver these apparent cuts to its current roster of around 300 staff.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the layoffs will affect 90 of the 150 workers who’re at risk, with notice having been given via email on Monday morning, in order to comply with the UK’s labour laws regarding mass layoffs of this nature.
Supermassive Games has since posted a statement to Twitter confirming that plans are in place that’ll see it enter a “period of consultation” which it anticipates “will result in the loss of some of our colleagues.” The studio wrote: “It’s no secret that the games industry is currently facing significant challenges, and unfortunately we aren’t immune to this.
“After much deliberation and with deep regret, we are therefore undertaking a reorganisation of Supermassive Games,” it continued, adding: “This is not a decision that’s been taken lightly, with many efforts made to avoid this outcome.”
The studio says it “will be working closely with all those affected [by the layoffs] to ensure the process is conducted as respectfully and compassionately as possible, and that going forwards, it’s “committed to focusing [its] efforts on [its] core strengths and upcoming titles to ensure the continued sustainability of the company.”
Even though it’s not helming the PS5 and PC remake of Until Dawn, with Ballistic Moon taking the reigns on that instead, Supermassive still has plenty in the works game-wise, including the fifth main installment in their Dark Pictures Anthology series, the next entry in the Little Nightmares trilogy originated by Tarsier Studios, and Dead by Daylight spin-off The Casting of Frank Stone, which was revealed at last year’s Game Awards, with the latter two at least expected to release in 2024.