People Can Fly restructures studio by laying off 120 devs and icing projects
Image via People Can Fly/Square Enix.
Outriders developer People Can Fly is making layoffs and putting one of its game projects on hold.
In a statement from the company, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski explained it was “suspending or parting ways with” over 120 employees working on the unannounced ‘Project Bifrost.’ The studio is also restructuring some of its support teams and fully pausing development on ‘Project Victoria’ in an effort to “reduce our self-publishing strategy.”
According to Wojciechowski, “external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts… and we have to adjust to where things are today.” He affirmed People Can Fly’s belief in its various projects, but admitted it needs to “tailor our plans to our financial capacity.”
Going forward, he said the studio is focusing on a single independent game, and pursuing new work-for-hire opportunities.
The rocky year for People Can Fly
Victoria is the latest project from the Polish developer to be set aside. In late April, People Can Fly canceled ‘Project Dagger’ after re-analyzing its development plans. The end result was a writedown of nearly $20 million in production costs.
This is also its newest round of staff cuts: it started off 2024 by laying off over 30 developers from the Square Enix-backed ‘Project Gemini.’
Last year, People Can Fly revealed it opened a Montreal studio to increase production on a triple-A project, and entered a work-for-hire deal with Microsoft. At the moment, the status of the latter (dubbed ‘Project Maverick’) is unknown, as are Gemini and Bifrost after these recent cuts.
Wojciechowski concluded the statement by stressing the studio’s focus on “approaching this moment with compassion and to ensure our team feels supported as we work together to build a stronger future.”
“In this hard moment, our dedication to excellence and creativity remains strong as ever,” he wrote. “For everyone who loves what we create: we will not give up on our dreams.”
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Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com
A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don’t ask him about how much gum he’s had, because the answer will be more than he’s willing to admit.
