Outriders game screenshot
Polish game development studio and publisher People Can Fly is going through its second round of layoffs in 2024. This time, over 120 employees are being affected, with the CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski saying that this is to make sure that the company does not go over its financial capacity. Multiple games in development are affected by the staff reduction too.
The announcement arrived on social media, with the CEO saying that it is "deeply grateful for the contributions of every team member impacted by this turn of events; their talent and dedication have helped shape our company and our games."
As part of the change in scope, the studio says that its Project Victoria game is being suspended entirely, while Project Bifrost development team is being scaled down. Some "restructuring" of the studio's support teams are in effect too. Both gaming projects have been self-published titles but have never seen official announcements, and have only being in development for a few years.
"This action became necessary as external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts. The video game market is still evolving, and we have to adjust with where things are today," said the CEO. "We are redoubling our efforts with new work-for-hire engagements and focusing on the development of a single independent game."
"Our priority is to approach this moment with compassion and to ensure our team feels supported as we work together to build a stronger future," he adds. "In this hard moment, our dedication to excellence and creativity remains as strong as ever. For everyone who loves what we create — we will not give up on our dreams."
The company has multiple gaming projects still in development. This includes a title for Square Enix, which is largely believed to be an Outriders sequel, and even an Xbox exclusive for Microsoft platforms named Project Maverick. This mysterious Microsoft-published project is said to cost around 30-50 million USD to complete, though it may be some years out from release still.