Deck Nine, the developer of Life is Strange: True Colors, has revealed that it would be firing twenty percent of its employees. Deck Nine did not provide a cause for the layoffs in the statement announcing this news; instead, it said the studio has been impacted by the deteriorating conditions in the business. Twenty percent of Deck Nine’s workforce is equivalent to about thirty workers, citing a Eurogamer article.
Here is the complete statement from Deck Nine:
“Like many others in the games industry right now, Deck Nine has been affected by the games industry’s worsening market conditions. Today we made the difficult decision to lay off 20% of our staff. These people are amazing, talented, and awesome developers. They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games and we did not take this decision lightly. Please hire these people if you can, they’re amazing.”
The director of games at Deck Nine, Stephan Frost, stated on X (previously Twitter) that the studio’s leadership has reduced salaries in an effort to minimize the number of layoffs. Frost added,
“This is the strongest team Deck Nine has ever been and it absolutely sucks that the industry is in the state that it is presently.”
Previous layoffs
These layoffs add to a depressing series of other 2024 layoffs more than 6,5000 have been announced in the first two months of the year alone. We found out yesterday that PlayStation was shutting London Studio and letting go of 900 workers from companies including Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and others. Supermassive Games, the company behind Until Dawn, said the day prior that it would be firing ninety-nine workers.
We found out at the end of January that Embracer Group had terminated 97 people and canceled a new Deus Ex game that was being developed at Eidos-Montréal. Additionally, in January, it was reported that Black Forest Games, the creator of the remake of Destroy All Humans, fired 50 people, and Microsoft revealed it was cutting off 1,900 workers from its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams. Riot Games, the business behind League of Legends, laid off 530 workers in January, while People Can Fly, the studio behind Outriders, cut off more than 30.
Over 10,000 workers in the gaming business and related sectors lost their jobs last year. Ten thousand workers were let go by Microsoft in January of last year as part of its ongoing $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it eventually finished in October. In August of 2023, Striking Distance Studios, the production company behind The Callisto Protocol from 2022, laid off over thirty workers. The company BioWare, which developed Dragon Age and Mass Effect, let go of fifty workers in the same month, including longtime studio veterans. Ascendant Studios, the creator of Immortals of Aveum, laid off almost 45% of its employees the next month, in September, while Epic Games, the producer of Fortnite, laid off 830 workers.
Conclusion
In summary, Deck Nine’s layoffs are a reflection of the larger difficulties that game creators throughout the world confront. Maintaining a commitment to creativity and innovation while providing assistance to impacted personnel is imperative as the sector navigates these challenges.
