Double Fine lays off a quarter of its staff after Xbox granted it independence

Double Fine has announced the layoff of twenty-three employees in a statement written by Tim Schafer himself, head of the studio. In this statement he says that “as a small, close-knit team, these actions aren’t taken lightly. Only the survival of our studio would make us consider such a painful decision. Our transition to an independent studio also means being a sustainable size”.

A catastrophe they’re not alone in

These layoffs come after Double Fine was one of the five studios that secured their independence from Xbox to avoid being shut down. Although they managed to regain the rights to their games and become fully independent again they still had to make staff cuts to ensure its long-term survival.

Xbox Download

The other studios affected by these cuts are Compulsion Games, developers of South of Midnight and We Happy Few; Ninja Theory, developers of Hellblade and Bleeding Edge; and Undead Labs, developers of State of Decay. In their case, though, they were bought by companies whose identities still haven’t been disclosed. Similarly, Arkane Studios, developers of cult titles like Dishonored and Deathloop, is currently in talks in France and it is unknown whether it will be allowed to become independent or sold to another company.

Author: Álvaro Arbonés

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