Thanks to some Reddit internet sleuths, it looks like Cloud Imperium Games may be going through some changes if recent LinkedIn posts are any indicator. A number of former CIG workers have announced on their professional accounts during the last few weeks that they are no longer employed by the Star Citizen developer. Some of them have given the reason for their departure as the possible need to move.
The information was gleaned via a Reddit post that MassivelyOP saw, and it appears that Cloud Imperium Games may be interested in moving staff members to its Manchester location because of the extremely attractive tax benefits offered by the city. Consequently, the company has lost a number of well-known developers in recent weeks, including Todd Papy, the game director for Star Citizen.
Layoffs at Cloud Imperium Games
There have been layoffs at Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), the company that created Star Citizen. Ex-turbulent producer Annie Bouffard said that these reductions were mass layoffs that were justified by staff relocation. According to the Reddit thread, the list includes Turbulent (which CIG purchased last year), Producer Annie Bouffard, Lead Designer Dane Kubicka, Assistant Design Director Dan Trufin, Senior QA analyst Andrew Rexroth, Lead Producer Jake Ross, QA Lead Vincent Sinatra, and Assistant Design Director Dan Trufin.
The entries make reference to changes that took place at the studio. The relocation of staff is specifically mentioned as a cause in the telling LinkedIn remark from former Turbulent Producer Annie Bouffard, who claims she was gaslighted about the studio’s layoffs.
“I was gaslighted when I expressed concern about potential layoffs, telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about, just before the holidays,” Bouffard commented (via a LinkedIn translation from French). The post continued, “At the end of January, a mass dismissal, disguised as a “relocation of staff” (when very few could/wanted to move to other countries/continents with little or no notice) occurred.”
The toxic environment at Cloud Imperium
Although Cloud Imperium Games has not made a public statement about these departures, it is easy to see that something is going on given the general industry trend of firing talent in order to reduce expenses and restructure studios, which includes the news that Sony is firing 8% of its workforce globally.
Bouffard referred to Cloud Imperium as a highly toxic company in her (translated) post. She said that her supervisor hadn’t talked to her in months and that she had been gaslighted over worries about the layoffs.
“At my annual evaluation…we spent an hour on my character and my ‘negativity,'” she wrote. “I was mocked in a condescending way when I said that what mattered to me was the well-being of my teams.”
The claims and layoffs have been brought up with Cloud Imperium Games by the game developer. An update will be provided as soon as a response is received.
