It’s never exactly calming to hear that a large project is laying people off before release, and that’s the rumor swirling around Cloud Imperium Games for the past few days. A recent statement from the studio claims that what’s happening on a company-wide level isn’t layoffs but a global restructuring and reorganization. The company states that as production ramps up on Star Citizen certain redundant positions in various local offices are being eliminated, while other positions are being created elsewhere:
“Cloud Imperium Games continues to grow its development team across CIG’s multiple studios,” CIG told Polygon. “Each of our four offices is being streamlined to focus on specific parts of Star Citizen which will allow for a more efficient and accelerated completion of the game.”
The net effect for the studio will supposedly be an increase in total employees by the time the dust settles. Each of Cloud Imperium’s four branch studios will be focusing on a single part of the game for development, a refocusing that was begun with Erin Roberts’ appointment as Global Production Head. That still means staff reduction in the short term, but perhaps not so much in the longer term.
