Singularity 6, the studio behind the life sim Palia, announced in a statement to IGN on April 5 that they have laid off around 35% of their staff only a few months after the game’s open beta release.
In the statement, the studio said that they wanted to ensure that the game could last long-term while still keeping up a consistent level of quality.
“Following Palia’s release on Steam, we evaluated the support needed to deliver the highest-quality gameplay service for long-term stability,” the statement said. “We made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce, which impacted around 35 percent of our talented and hardworking team members.”
They assured that they would help the laid off employees through the transition, and made it clear that this change was not a result or reflection of their performance.
“We value their contributions and are committed to supporting them throughout this process, including severance, work-placement and career guidance assistance, and retainment of all company-provided development equipment,” the statement said. “This decision was not made lightly, and comes after careful consideration of our development and business needs to support Palia and its community.”
The statement concluded by confirming that they will continue to work to support Palia as they move forward after this change.
“We remain committed to delivering passion in imagination, and maintaining the dedication and creativity that our community expects and deserves,” they said. “We appreciate your understanding and support of our studio and affected team members.”
Palia released in early access only six months ago in Oct. 2023. Singularity 6 confirmed that the game is still in open beta, and will continue to have new content and bug fixes going forward.
According to Singularity 6’s LinkedIn page, the company consists of 51-200 employees, meaning these layoffs affected anywhere from 18 to 70 people. These layoffs come during tough time for the industry, as companies of all sizes have laid off thousands of jobs in this year alone.