Deck Nine blame “the game industry’s worsening market conditions”
The developers behind theLife is Strangeremaster, spin-offsBefore the StormandTrue Colors, andThe Expanse: A Telltale Series, Deck Nine, have laid off 20% of the studio’s staff due to “the game industry’s worsening market conditions”. The latest job losses are the second wave of layoffs at the company in the last 12 months.
Deck Nine’s layoffs saw a fifth of the studio lose their jobs yesterday, according to a statementposted to Xthat blamed “worsening market conditions” for the “difficult decision”.
“These people are amazing, talented, and awesome developers," the studio said. “They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games and we did not take this decision lightly. Please hire these people if you can, they’re amazing.”
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According to game directorStephan Frost, Deck Nine’s leadership cut their pay in order to minimise the number of layoffs, estimated to be around 30 people.
“This is the strongest team D9 has ever been and it absolutely sucks that the industry is in the state that it is presently,” Frost added.
The latest layoffs mark the second time Deck Nine has been hit by job cuts in under a year, after 30 staff were let go last May, and several narrative leads voluntarily resigned to minimise further losses, as reported byGame Developerat the time.
