It’s not uncommon within the industry for game developers and publishers to lay off some staff after a large project is completed, and this unfortunately seems to be the case with Trion Worlds and Defiance 2050. Gamasutra discovered, and then subsequently received confirmation from Trion Worlds that fifteen developers have been laid off.
Defiance 2050 recently launched on July 10 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The game’s release seems to have gone fairly smoothly and the game still has a solid player base, though it did receive mixed reception from critics. Trion Worlds has also made some other major moves lately, acquiring the assets of the recently shut down Gazillion Entertainment. These layoffs occurred just one week after Defiance 2050’s launch, and were spread across all different disciplines.
Even though these layoffs occurred, the company doesn’t seem to be in bad shape. Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman gave a statement to Gamasutra claiming that these layoffs didn’t have anything to do with the performance of the employers or the state of the company, but were necessary in order to develop their other upcoming projects as smoothly as possible. You can check out his full statement below:
“We’ve had to make the difficult decision to eliminate 15 positions throughout the company. We are extremely grateful for those who have been impacted for their hard work and contributions to Trion Worlds, and will be offering each of them severance benefits and job placement assistance.
This is not related to the performance of the individuals affected nor of Trion Worlds as a whole, but was necessary to enable us to develop the upcoming projects that we have planned in the best ways possible.”
Of course, DualShockers’ thoughts and best goes out to all the developers impacted by the layoffs as Trion Worlds helps them find new jobs.