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Supermassive Games, the developer of Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures anthology, announced today that it is adding to the growing list of studios laying off staff in 2024. The studio said that, in part because of prevailing problems in the industry, it will be reorganizing, and plans to enter a period of consultation. Reportedly, it may lay off up to 90 people, or around 25-30% of its staff.
Bloomberg reports that 150 Supermassive employees were warned that their jobs were at risk today, in accordance with labor laws. It also says that the company expects to lay off around 90 people after its consultation period. Supermassive later confirmed this in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “We are all too aware of how unsettling and difficult this process is going to be for all our employees and will be working closely with all those involved to ensure the process is conducted as respectfully and compassionately as possible.”
Supermassive joins a massive and expanding list of companies who’ve recently laid off employees. Across 2023 and in just two months of 2024, we’ve lost over 1,600 jobs. The companies that have announced layoffs just this year include Microsoft, Riot Games and Twitch among many others. Even investment money hasn’t been enough to stop it, as Build a Rocket Boy announced layoffs shortly after raising $110 million in funding.
The studio also said in its statement that it would be “focusing our efforts on our core strengths and upcoming titles.” The upcoming titles include Little Nightmares III, Dead by Daylight spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone (Behavior Interactive also added to the list of recent layoffs in January) and The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020. Supermassive’s 2015 title Until Dawn is getting a remaster, though Ballistic Moon is handling that.
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