According to an updated report from Kotaku, developer Black Forest Games has been hit with layoffs that affected approximately half of its total employees.
Fans will recognize Black Forest Games for their remakes of action-adventure classics Destroy All Humans and Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed.
The layoffs were reportedly announced on January 24th, but management has not provided a specific explanation yet. They state that “more information would be provided next week”.
Kotaku also reports that “the creative directors and most ‘if not all’ of the managers will keep their jobs”.
Currently, Black Forest Games is working on the highly anticipated game adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.
The game was first revealed in March 2023 as an action RPG. It will surely provide an edgy alternative to the beloved ninja turtles. Especially compared to titles like the colorful beat ’em up hit Shredder’s Revenge.
Cutting about 50% of your employees is a massive shakeup. So, it’s unclear how this will affect the development for TMNT: The Last Ronin.
It could potentially be delayed as Black Forest Games recuperates and reorganizes. Ideally, Black Forest Games will address development plans in upcoming clarifying statements.
Sadly, it seems that 2024 continues the trend of devastating layoffs that affected so many last year.
Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive let go 40 employees last week. And the very same day, Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games also faced layoffs. They affected about 10% of CI Games employees.
Lost Boys Interactive, the developeer behind Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, also suffered layoffs just a couple of weeks ago.
Hopefully this trend begins to slow down soon heading into the new year.
For more of the latest gaming news, you can read about The Pokémon Company announcing plans to investigate Palworld for infringement.
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