Bossa Studios–the group behind I Am Bread and the Surgeon Simulator series–has reportedly laid off 19 workers. That’s roughly one-third of the corporate’s workforce, with 40 individuals left to make the cooperative survival-adventure sport Misplaced Skies.
GamesIndustry.biz confirmed the firings at Bossa Studios, with co-founder Henrique Olifiers saying the cutbacks are due to a “good storm of occasions.” Olifiers cited rising operational prices, funding choices being pushed again within the trade, and massive vacation video games hurting indie titles. Bossa Studios hasn’t launched a brand new sport previously yr, with Misplaced Skies deliberate for this yr. It was unveiled on the Humble Video games Showcase this previous Might.
“Ensuing from this blue moon scenario, we needed to make the tough resolution to reshape the studio to replicate the place we discover ourselves in on the finish of this yr, focusing all our efforts now on Misplaced Skies,” mentioned Olifiers. “This implies we discover ourselves within the heartbreaking place of getting to let roughly one-third of the studio go–amongst them, a few of our closest colleagues.”
The layoffs come lower than a yr since Olifiers defined to GamesIndusty.biz why Bossa bought off its rights to Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread to TinyBuild to create Misplaced Skies. On the time, Olifiers defined: “We’re doubling down on a brand new vertical, so it is sensible for us to have a battle chest that allows us to climate any type of delays or massive funding we determine to make on this new sport we’re making.”
Final yr was brutal for sport builders, as massive corporations like Ubisoft, Unity, and Amazon Video games minimize jobs. Layoffs and studio closures have been a serious storyline for 2023 with estimates pointing to 7,000 jobs misplaced.