(This article has been updated with S6’s statement at the end; the original piece is as follows.)
Palia studio Singularity 6’s frustrating deceptions regarding the beta status of the game on Steam may have a partial explanation, as last night workers at the studio began reporting that they’d been laid off.
Programmer Brian “leetNightshade” Ernst posted on Mastodon about being “caught in a round of layoffs after having been with S6 for 5 years.” Players on Discord have begun compiling a list of those affected, including community manager Melbelle, lead narrative designer Vega, environment artist Daphne Flato, artist Mel, and lead housing environment artist Zeeliah; we’ve seen circulating Linkedin posts that suggest environment artist Maya Mahalingam, Natalie Olivari, UX/UI designer Roxanna Yu, UI art lead Ev Munro, and senior QA analyst William P. were also impacted.
“49 people Thanos snapped,” Flato wrote on Twitter. “[L]oads of people got let go, all wonderful & talented folks.
We contacted S6’s PR around 7 p.m. EDT last night; we’ll update when they reply with a statement (they’re on the west coast), but obviously we want to know how many people, why it’s happening, and what the future of the game looks like with a gutted team. As always, our sympathies extend to the developers affected.
“Following Palia’s release on Steam, we evaluated the support needed to deliver the highest-quality gameplay service for long-term stability. We made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce, which impacted around 35 percent of our talented and hardworking team members. We value their contributions and are committed to supporting them throughout this process, including severance, work-placement and career guidance assistance, and retainment of all company-provided development equipment. This decision was not made lightly, and comes after careful consideration of our development and business needs to support Palia and its community. We remain committed to delivering passion in imagination, and maintaining the dedication and creativity that our community expects and deserves. We appreciate your understanding and support of our studio and affected team members.”
