Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs has confirmed that 9% of the studio has been laid off. This comes after the studio’s management purchased Phoenix Labs from Garena, a Singaporean game company that originally acquired the studio back in 2020.
Dauntless recently reached 30 million players. Phoenix Labs previously said that they had 10 titles in different stages of development. LinkedIn lists Phoenix Labs’ employee count at 308 which suggests that roughly 30 people were impacted by the layoff.
Phoenix Labs said the reason for the layoffs is to focus on fewer development projects. “We recently evaluated all ongoing development projects within Phoenix Labs to determine our strongest path in terms of success and sustainability,” a representative said. “As a result of that evaluation, we felt the best way forward for the company was to focus on fewer development projects. This renewed focus offers the best opportunity for the success of Fae Farm and Dauntless, as well as the remaining unannounced titles in our portfolio.”
Speaking to Polygon, a Phoenix Labs representative said “As part of the reorganization, we worked diligently to find new assignments for as many employees as possible. While we succeeded in reassigning many people, there were cases where we had to part ways with some talented folks. In total, 9% of our total employees have been affected, including some out of Montreal and some working remotely in the United States. In addition to severance and benefits coverage extensions, we’ve offered assistance for job placement in an effort to ease transition for all affected employees.”
Phoenix Labs said the reason for the layoffs is to focus on fewer development projects.
This marks the next wave of layoffs in the video game industry. Microsoft, 343 Industries, Bethesda, Riot Games, and Take-Two all suffered layoffs this year. It didn’t just affect the dev side of things. Twitch was affected by the latest Amazon layoffs. There were also number of layoffs affecting the media side of things. Recently, It was revealed that Waypoint will be shut down next month. The Washington Post shut down its gaming section Launcher. Giant Bomb and GameSpot was hit with layoffs as well.