Today Warframe developer Digital Extremes confirmed that it has laid off a number of employees in what appears to be an annus horribilis for employment in the gaming industry.
As reported by Polygon, the studio closed its External Projects Division which acted as a publishing arm taking care of games by other developers.
This resulted inmultiple layoffs as Digital Extreme is withdrawing from the publishing of the action MMO Wayfinder by Airship Syndicate.
Below you can read the comment by Digital Extremes confirming the layoffs and closure of the department. At the moment, the number of employees affected has not been disclosed.
We can confirm we have made the difficult decision to cease operations of our external projects division. We have had to say goodbye to a number of hardworking and highly valuable team members as a result.
No information was provided about what form of former employee support or severance packages the company will enact, if any.
Wayfinder itself will not be closed, as control over the game will be fully transferred back to Airship Syndicate.
Wayfinder is currently in early access on PC, PS4, and PS5. The full release is planned to come approximately six months from its August launch. It’s also supposed to come to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. At the moment, we don’t know if the change in the publishing situation will lead to any change in these plans.
This is just the last of many layoffs that have hit the gaming industry over the past several months, with many companies cutting jobs across the board, often affecting publishing or social media departments.
Workforce reductions have hit companies pretty much across the spectrum of size and scope, including giants like Microsoft, Sony, Epic Games, Embracer Group, Ubisoft, and smaller teams like Bungie, Frontier, Team17, Cryptic Studios, and Motorsport Games.
