People Can Fly Hit With Layoffs After Projects Suspended
Well, in another round of layoffs, the CEO of the Outriders studio, People Can Fly, Sebastian Wojciechowski, dropped the heavy load that they will be having staff layoffs due to a suspension of two in-development games that were known as Projects Gemini and Bifrost.
Wojciechowski is placing the blame for the Gemini suspension on an unnamed publisher.
“The suspension of the Gemini Project is a consequence of the fact that the publisher has not presented us with a draft of the subsequent content writer to the publishing agreement covering the terms and conditions of further milestones on Project Gemini, and the lack of communication from the publisher as to its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini Project,” he writes in his update on LinkedIn.
You have to give us more details, dude.
People Can Fly Blames Publisher’s Silence
The understandably irate CEO explains that the second project, Bifrost, was also suspended due to the same publisher—we are seeing a pattern here, aren’t we? He added that an:
“Analysis of the group’s cash flow, which showed lack of prospects for securing organizational resources and funds necessary to continue this production and release of this project.”
Is also behind the suspension of Bifrost.
“As a result, we have to significantly regroup as a studio and scale down our teams, which hurts the most,” he writes. “We wish to express our deepest regret and sadness over how these events have unfolded and our sincere gratitude for everyone’s contributions up to this point.”
A Studio With Legacy and Uncertainty
Now this is a sad time, because People Can Fly has been around for over two decades and has a lot of clout with games like Gears of War, Bulletstorm, and Gears of War: Judgment. It also developed 2021’s Outriders, a third-person looter shooter—and personal fave game—that was published by Square Enix.
Now, it is unclear which publisher he’s talking about, as Project Gemini and Bifrost were not announced officially, so next to nothing is known about them.
On the other hand, People Can Fly is co-developing The Coalition’s upcoming Gears of War prequel, Gears of War: E-Day, a first-person survival shooter. One that has a pretty good following and has been on the list of a lot of gamers to grab when it comes out.
So, as of now, People Can Fly are joining the forces of the studios that have laid off their workers. Hopefully, this will turn around for them—but the future is still uncertain!
