Tweet
The string of industry layoffs continues. Though there was hope that the mass layoffs in 2023 would come to an end just because the year flipped on to a higher number, that unfortunately isn't the case. The latest studio to experience a round of layoffs is the UK based Bossa Studios.
According to a report from GamesIndustry.biz, Bossa Studios laid off roughly one-third of its entire workforce. Sources that spoke with GamesIndustry shared a list of 19 people that were laid off today. These "redundancies" mostly impacted the QA and production teams, as well as employees located outside of the UK.
As it stands, 40 employees remain at Bossa Studios. These 40 employees are reportedly focused on working on the studio's next title, Lost Skies.
Bossa Studios' co-founder Henrique Olifiers issued a statement about the layoffs, calling them a result of a "perfect storm of events." This "perfect storm" seemed to include a number of AAA releases coming after September that took focus away from smaller, AA, and indie titles. There is also the issue of increasing operational costs, and more.
"Resulting from this blue moon situation, we had to make the difficult decision to reshape the studio to reflect the position we find ourselves in at the end of this year, focusing all our efforts now on Lost Skies. This means we find ourselves in the heartbreaking position of having to let roughly one third of the studio go – amongst them, some of our closest colleagues.
"While we are doing our utmost to support them, we would appreciate any help our industry peers can give in spreading the word about these great people – or even better, hiring them as part of your team. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better game development professional than one of these Bossians, whom we'll vouch for without hesitation.
"We often say that making games is hard, but nothing is harder than seeing people you admire being let go. Ultimately, we tried our very best to avoid being in this position, and we're truly sorry for where we have landed."
"While we are doing our utmost to support them, we would appreciate any help our industry peers can give in spreading the word about these great people – or even better, hiring them as part of your team. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better game development professional than one of these Bossians, whom we'll vouch for without hesitation.
"We often say that making games is hard, but nothing is harder than seeing people you admire being let go. Ultimately, we tried our very best to avoid being in this position, and we're truly sorry for where we have landed."
The industry saw thousands of employees laid off throughout 2023. Many analysts have predicted that there will be many more layoffs to come in 2024.
