The mass layoffs that have plagued the gaming industry as of late show no sign of stopping.
The latest victim of the onslaught is Inflexion Games, most famous for its Victorian steampunk survival hitNightingale, released in February this year.
According toreports, the current Inflexion layoffs will affect “dozens of employees,” though the company has not put an exact number out yet.
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The language used in the communiqué issued by the company has become tragically familiar.
Inflexion was “exploring numerous options,” but after all that,it came to the “difficult decision” to make a radical restructuringfor the sake of “long-term sustainability.”
This is not the first time the Edmonton-based company has put its employees on the chopping block.
Last week, reportssurfaced that Inflexion Games would close its UK office. Audio director Jon Newmanconfirmed this shortly after, specifyingthat this directly affected the company’s audio team.
A Troubled Month for Developers
The Inflexion restructuring and subsequent layoffs mark a particularly dark month of October for game developers worldwide.
Earlier today,Sony axed Firewalk Studios, which had been in limbo for months after the disastrousConcordlaunch this summer.
The original studio behind Life is Strange, Don’t Nod, has announcedit will lay off 21% of its workforceafterJusant and Banishers: Ghost of New Edenflopped in the market.
Keeping up with the trend, South Korean developerNCSoft has announced a restructuringbecause of financial problems. This came as a surprise, considering the success ofThrone and Liberty.
These woes also affectedbig playersin the industry. Riot Games, ofLeague of LegendsandValorantfame, alsotrimmed multiple jobs two weeks ago, citing the concern for the company’s future as the driving force.
There is a debate on whether layoffs are necessary for the continued survivalof so many game developers. Is the average gaming company staff indeed bloated, or is it being mismanaged?
Either way,what is being done to buck the trend atthe leadership level, considering it is executives who handled these hires and managed those resources?
For now,it seems like the companies affected by layoffs will stay afloat, but it makes you wonder whether they will find themselves in the same situation a few years down the line unless something changes.
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Funding for new games has completely dried up.
Nightingale
WHERE TO PLAY
Step into the shoes of a Realmwalker in this survival exploration game, where you’ll traverse the fae realm, craft, build, survive, and thrive with your friends against supernatural threats in Nightingale’s Gaslamp fantasy setting.
