Double Effective Productions has introduced that it has laid off 23 members of its growth employees.
The studio – based in 2000 by former LucasArts veteran Tim Schafer – was acquired by Microsoft in 2019 and developed Rad, Psychonauts 2, Keeper and Kiln after that.
Following information final month that Xbox deliberate to chop hundreds of jobs as a part of what CEO Asha Sharma referred to as “probably the most important restructure in Xbox historical past”, nevertheless, a variety of Microsoft-owned studios confronted closure.
A few of these studios began negotiating with Xbox to go impartial in an try to keep away from closure, and Double Effective was profitable in these negotiations together with South of Midnight studio Compulsion Video games.
As a newly impartial studio, nevertheless, Double Effective has discovered itself having to chop prices to stay a going concern, which it says has led to layoffs.
“At this time, Double Effective Productions let go of 23 members of our employees,” Schafer mentioned in a press release posted on Bluesky.
“As a small, tightly-knit group, these actions should not taken calmly. Solely the survival of our studio would ever make us take into account such a painful motion. Our transition to turning into an impartial firm additionally means turning into a measurement that we are able to maintain.
“The individuals we’re shedding had been all vital. All of them made an affect on our video games and tradition, and they are going to be missed. We’re dedicated to supporting every affected individual as greatest as we are able to, and we thank them for his or her exhausting work and dedication to the inventive spirit we cherish right here at Double Effective.”
Whereas turning into an impartial studio was likely thought of preferable to being shut down solely by Xbox, the transfer will not be a assure of security, and such studios must work on new initiatives quickly to herald funds.
Earlier this month Compulsion Video games – which additionally not too long ago turned impartial following its acquisition by Microsoft in 2018 – posted a message on its LinkedIn web page reaching out to different studios, providing collaborative work on any initiatives they might want a accomplice for.
“With Compulsion Video games returning to its roots as an impartial developer, we’re increasing alternatives to collaborate with studios throughout the video games and leisure business,” it mentioned on the time.
