Striking Distance Studios has been hit with another round of layoffs, parent company Krafton has confirmed, claiming that the studio remains operational and that these further cuts will not impact any in-development projects.
The publisher provided a statement to PC Gamer confirming the layoffs, as multiple former employees took to LinkedIn to share the news. "Most of the devs were laid off", wrote one; "Lots of layoffs", said another. Krafton's statement reads: "Striking Distance Studios has reduced the size of its team to remain agile, which creates a sustainable environment for the studio at its current stage of development. The studio remains operational, and these changes will not impact any planned ongoing support. No further changes are planned at this time."
Following the release of The Callisto Protocol in 2023, the developer underwent a round of layoffs, and later that year, Striking Distance Studios founder, CEO, and creator of the original Dead Space left to "pursue new opportunities".
Do you think Striking Distance Studios can turn its fortunes around now that so many have been let go? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 15
It's just so sad to me still that The Callisto Protocol "failed". I love the game, it's absolutely awesome and I really enjoy the combat and main character. For me it does lack enemy variety compared to Dead Space on paper, and the boss fights are not excellent... but the visuals, horror design, and gameplay are top for me. It is even better on Pro & with the DLCs. Don't overlook the game. I'm sad the studio is forced to cultivate it's "agility" so soon again :/
They're on the slow train to being shuttered. They just don't seem to have anything interesting right now. Callisto protocol was a high profile failure but if DSR is anything to go by, it was destined for failure from the beginning.
I didn't even know they had a game called REDACTED (stupid name).
@zhoont the gameplay had potential but it was just weak and especially with the way the block system worked. Slitterhead actually managed to pull it off better where it both had strict timing and wasn't just left or right over and over again.
The callisto protocol is one of the best gaming experiences ive ever had so definitely sad to hear about the layoffs
@zhoont
You dont need to put failed in quotation marks. It was an incredibly expensive game and didn't sell enough copies to turn a profit. Needed 5 million copies just to break even and it barely broke 2. That's a financial failure.
@PegasusActual93 yeah . A financial failure. Doesn't make it a failure of an art piece . That's why I put quotation marks- it's a failure or success depending on how you are analyzing the game
financials dictate if they get to make another game and 180 million cost to make the game and 2 million sales tells the story
Lol it's the same corporate speak used for the Bioware lay-offs.
Means they all got layed off except the skeleton pre-production team.
2 million copies sold is not a failure, especially when it was also given away on Playstation Plus Essential and was included in Gamepass. 2 million is pretty good for a new IP and from a new studio (their first game) but obviously they had an high budget which was their problem in the end.
I garunetee this company will kill Tango again in the future
@UltimateOtaku91 loosing tens of millions making a game is a financial failure
I'll just say it straight, sites like this who gave it a 7 indirectly killed the game (and many other games). Not because of ill intent or that it's a bad score, but "readers" can't think for themselves and have an odd fixation on scores. Gaming media should stop giving scores so that simpletons who think anything under 9 is a bad game can finally read context and make a actual researched decision if they'll like something or not.
God Hand being the prime example.
@PegasusActual93 Did they really expect 5 million? That's crazy... Only RE will do those numbers for horror games as far as I know.
@UltimateOtaku91 it was somewhere around $165 million
@tameshiyaku 100 percent agree. I think summing up the entire experience of a video game into one number at the end just doesn't make sense at all. I also think some people care WAY too much about them. Cause you're right, some people will straight up dismiss something that gets a 7, even though it's not a bad score. Not to mention that means everything is scored on the same scale. Tetris is scored on the same scale as GTA. Like how does that make sense?
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