The studio behind the PlayStation 4 survival horror game Until Dawn’s remaster for PlayStation 5 and PC has laid off some of its staff, just a month before the game’s October 4 release. Eurogamer reported the unfortunate news on Sunday, with Ballistic Moon actually confirming the layoffs in a statement posted to its LinkedIn page on Labor Day.
“It is with deep regret and sadness that we must make the difficult decision to significantly downsize our team in order to secure the future of our studio,” the statement read. “This decision will come after the development of Until Dawn for PS5 and PC.” Ballistic Moon did not disclose how many staff members would be cut or what percentage of the team would be laid off.
Two former staff members broke the news on their social media accounts over the weekend: former junior game designer Cathy Cornish and former technical designer Harry Williams each posted the news of their dismissals on LinkedIn.
“Like many others working in this amazing but unstable industry, I have sadly been laid off from my job as a Junior Game Designer at Ballistic Moon,” Cornish wrote. “The team is amazing, and I’m really looking forward to the game releasing in October!”
Ballistic Moon is just the latest in a long string of layoffs at game studios and tech companies: Take-Two Interactive, Behaviour (Dead By Daylight), Bungie (Destiny 2 and Marathon), and Humble Games have all made cuts recently.
Eurogamer also reported on Monday that Rocksteady, the studio behind the iconic Batman Arkham games, has cut the number of employees in its QA department from 33 to 15 over the past month, following the disappointing release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. One of the let go employees was on scheduled parental leave.
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