Linden Lab, the developer of Second Life, has sold its payments business, Tilia, to Thunes.
08.04.2024 - 17:47 / eurogamer.net / Michael Douse / Palia
Palia developer Singularity 6 has laid off 35 percent of its staff just months after the game entered early access.
Workers from the studio began sharing news of layoffs at the end of last week, which Singularity 6 then confirmed in a statement to IGN.
«Following Palia's release on Steam, we evaluated the support needed to deliver the highest-quality gameplay service for long-term stability,» reads the statement. «We made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce, which impacted around 35 percent of our talented and hardworking team members. We value their contributions and are committed to supporting them throughout this process, including severance, work-placement and career guidance assistance, and retainment of all company-provided development equipment.»
Palia | Steam Launch Trailer Palia Steam Launch TrailerWatch on YouTubeIt continues: «This decision was not made lightly, and comes after careful consideration of our development and business needs to support Palia and its community. We remain committed to delivering passion in imagination, and maintaining the dedication and creativity that our community expects and deserves. We appreciate your understanding and support of our studio and affected team members.»
The free-to-play cosy life sim MMO was in development for five years ahead of its public PC beta in August last year. It then launched on Switch in December, before arriving on Steam last month (25th March) where it remains in early access.
It currently has 'Mixed' reviews on Steam, largely due to bugs and the high cost of cosmetics.
There's no official release date for the full release and it's unclear if that will be impacted by these layoffs.
Layoffs have wracked the games industry over the past year. Over the weekend, Larian Studios' publishing director Michael Douse called the mass redundancies «avoidable» and suggested «none of these companies are at risk of going bankrupt».
Linden Lab, the developer of Second Life, has sold its payments business, Tilia, to Thunes.
Developer Flaming Fowl is laying off over 20 members of staff.
Gloomhaven developer Flaming Fowl Studios has announced layoffs, and that it's putting its current project on hold.
Singularity Six has revealed a plethora of new content coming as part of Palia's new April update. Patch 0.179 marks an exciting time for Palia fans, with the game receiving several quality-of-life improvements as well as game-enhancing features.
The director of upcoming Sims competitor Life By You says life sims are "the most complex" RPGs and crafting games ever made.
Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, has just reduced its workforce by laying off around 5% of its staff.
It's unfortunately time for yet another round of layoffs in the gaming industry as Take-Two Interactive announced a 5% reduction of its workforce. This translates to around 600 employees and follows similar reductions announced in the last few months by the likes of Epic Games, Riot Games, Microsoft, Sony, and Electronic Arts, not to mention many other such situations that occurred at smaller studios like Supermassive Games and Hidden Path Entertainment to name a couple.
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Baldur's Gate 3 had a very successful night at the BAFTA Game Awards, taking home not just the Best Game award, but also accolades for the best music, narrative, and even players' choice. Speaking about the players' choice win, the CRPG's publishing director, Michael Douse, says it's "a testimony to the fact that a developer is not a dispensable asset."
Everyone and their mama know that the video game industry has been struggling to what seems no end, as not only have there been many issues with AI trying to develop video games for certain companies, which then only takes away jobs from others, but the times are getting tough which leads to places mot having as much money as they normally would.
The developer of Palia, Singularity 6, has laid off 35% of its staff.
Larian, the developer behind hit role-player Baldur's Gate 3, has said it will likely follow the same early access release model for its unannounced next project.