Outriders’ Studio, People Can Fly, Lays Off More Than 120 Employees

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Just weeks before Christmas, developers People Can Fly announces that they will be laying off more than 120 employees due to several project cancellations and downsizing.

In a statement issued by People Can Fly on X, the studio confirmed that it will be laying off more than 120 employees just weeks before Christmas and New Year’s Day. The studio’s CEO, Sebastian Wojciechowski, noted that the layoff decisions were made due to “external market pressures” with the constantly evolving gaming market and that they must adjust and tailor plans to their financial capacity.

Nearly One Year After Their Previous Layoffs, People Can Fly Is Laying Off More Employees

“Today, we made a very difficult decision to reduce our self-publishing strategy by suspending Project Victoria, scaling down our team on Project Bifrost and restructuring some of our supporting teams at People Can Fly.

We are deeply saddened by the fact that this situation means suspending or parting ways with more than 120 talented Aviators, colleagues who we enjoyed having as part of our team.

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. We are redoubling our efforts with new work for hire engagements and focusing on the development of a single independent game.

We believe in our teams, games and their potential, and we remain extremely committed to continuing that journey, but we need to tailor our plans to our financial capacity. We are 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. These changes are deeply felt by all of us.

We recognize this is a profoundly challenging time for our team members, as we say goodbye to valued colleagues who have contributed so much. We are focused on supporting those impacted during this transition providing them with resources and assistance to navigate this change, and are equally committed to caring for those staying, who are managing the challenges of losing coworkers and friends. 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.

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.”

While understandable, it is unfortunate that these layoffs are happening just weeks before the holidays, Our prayers go out to all those affected.

This and last year have been horrible years working in the gaming industry. Despite some studios’ major successes in both rating and sales, it seems that no one has been safe from these layoffs. Microsoft itself was hit with an 8% layoff, affecting 1900 employees back in January. Most recently, we saw the closure of Sony’s Firewalk Studios after the failure of Concord. Embracer Group faced several layoffs and studio closures throughout the year. 

Let’s pray this isn’t the start of more layoffs to come, though given how this year started, we may be in for even more as the new year begins.

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