I’m sorry to add to the endless parade of bad news today, but this afternoon, we learned that Phoenix Labs has been hit with a large round of layoffs – over 100 workers.
“After a long period of evaluating how to navigate our economic environment, we have had to significantly restructure the company to pave a path for a strong future,” the studio wrote in a memo on Linkedin this afternoon. “We are reorganizing Phoenix Labs to focus on our best-in-class live service titles, Dauntless and Fae Farm, and serving their communities. This unfortunately means canceling work on all other projects at the studio, which will impact many of our colleagues immediately.”
This is unfortunately not the first layoff the company has waged in the last few years. Readers will recall that in 2022, Phoenix Labs bragged that it had nearly 10 games in the works; not even a year later, the company leveraged new investors to buy itself back from Singapore-based Garena, which was followed by the layoff of 9% of the company, an undisclosed number of game cancelations, and the departure of four execs, including three founders and the CEO. At the time, Fae Farm was also delayed, though it’s since released to positive acclaim.
Dauntless was the Phoenix Labs game most squarely in our wheelhouse, and it has most definitely suffered in terms of development over the last few years. Last summer, the studio promised a major revamp, with weapon overhauls and buff simplifications on deck, planned for this summer. The game hasn’t seen anything but events since then, but given that the memos says the remaining Phoenix Labs staff will be supporting Dauntless, we’re assuming the revamp is still happening.
Our sympathies extend to the developers affected by the layoffs.
