Naughty Dog reportedly laying off contract developers

Naughty Dog, the developer of The Last of Us, is reportedly laying off several contracted developers, with employees allegedly instructed to remain silent about the decision.

The details:

• As reported by Kotaku, Naughty Dog management informed at least 25 developers last week that their contracts would be terminated at the end of October, with the cuts mainly impacting its QA department, but also affecting some of its art and production staff. The studio employed over 400 people as of July. Permanent full-time employees do not appear to have been directly affected by the cuts.
• According to Kotaku's sources, those affected will not receive severance packages and will be expected to continue working as usual until they are officially let go by the studio. Furthermore, Naughty Dog is allegedly "pressuring" staff to keep quiet about the situation, with Sony yet to respond.
• Factions, The Last of Us' upcoming multiplayer spin-off, is said to have encountered several development challenges over the years, with Bungie's negative internal review prompting Sony to divert resources away from the project. According to sources, the project is not officially canceled, although it is in trouble and may be dropped shortly.

More gaming news:

• Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is coming to Steam after being released on mobile earlier this month. With a chibi art style and a new battle system, the game is an episodic retelling of the story of the original FF7 and its many spin-offs.
• Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, has laid off approximately 830 employees to reduce operating costs. Bandcamp, as well as the majority of its subsidiary SuperAwesome, have been sold off by the company.