Today Australian studio League of Geeks announced that it is the latest developer that had to enact a wave of layoffs.
According to a message shared on X (formerly Twitter), co-founders Trent Kustes, Blake Mizzi, and Ty Carey announced that they had to lay off over 50% of the studio’s staff.
This includes the whole development staff dedicated to Jumplight Odyssey (which recently appeared at the Guerrilla Collective showcase and PC Gaming Show before its early access release). As a consequence, development will be put on hold.
Jumplight Oyssey won’t reach its full release state, albeit the developers are working on the last (at least for now) update (version 0.3.1) to “make it feel as complete as possible” and include a few features that were being held back for version 1.0.
The plans for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S releases are also indefinitely paused.
This doesn’t mean that the studio is giving up completely on the game, but they won’t be able to further develop it unless they secure enough investment in the future.
On the other hand, Solium Infernum will make it to release on February 14, 2024, and the developers don’t expect timing and quality to be compromised. The company has enough funding for a couple of updates and “hopefully” a DLC.
The cause of the layoffs is pinpointed as rapidly rising operating costs, the weakening Australian Dollar, poor early access sales, and the unprecedented evaporation of investment across the industry.
League of Geeks has published a list of all the developers affected by the layoffs who have provided permissions for their data to be shared, which could help them connect with prospective employers.
The studio has also pledged to distribute to the staff (including those who have been laid off) half of the profit for all Jmplight Odyssey copies sold for the next 12 months or until development resumes, whichever comes first.
As for the previously released Armello, it’ll continue being supported as usual, as it’s successful enough to keep the lights on and the servers active.
This is the latest of many layoff announcements in what feels like an Annus Horribilis for employment in the gaming industry, with layoffs at Sony’s Media Molecule, Bungie, and Naughty Dog, Frontier, Embracer Group, Team17, Epic Games, Microsoft, Codemasters, tinyBuild, New World Interactive, and many more.
