Life is Strange: True Colors studio Deck Nine announces layoffs
Deck Nine, the developer of Life Is Strange: True Colors and Before the Storm, has confirmed that it has laid off 20% of its staff.
The details:
The studio announced the cuts in a statement posted on X, citing current market conditions as the reason behind the decision. “Like many others in the games industry right now, Deck Nine has been affected by the game industry’s worsening market conditions,” Deck Nine wrote. “Today we made the difficult decision to lay off 20% of our staff. These people are amazing, talented, and awesome developers. They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games and we did not take this decision lightly. Please hire these people if you can, they’re amazing.”
Among those laid off at the studio is narrative designer Elizabeth Ballou, who told X (via IGN) that employees would only receive two weeks of severance pay, regardless of how long they had worked for the studio. It was also claimed that Deck Nine had locked those affected out of their work email accounts immediately after informing them of the cuts, but the accounts were later made accessible once again.
Deck Nine previously experienced a wave of layoffs in May 2023, which affected around 30 employees. Unfortunately, it is not the only company in the industry to announce reductions this week, with Supermassive, PlayStation, and ESL FACEIT all confirming significant job cuts.
More gaming news:
Nintendo has sued the creator of Yuzu, a Switch emulator. It is claimed that Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was pirated over one million times before its release, with Yuzu being used to play the game.
Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has stated that he is unlikely to compose any full game soundtracks in the future after having finished the score for Fantasia in 2021.