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Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has reportedly laid off an unknown number of staff.

As reported by Game Developer, former employees have shared that they have been made redundant on LinkedIn, including level designer Dane Kubicka, Austin QA lead Vincent Sinatra and Austin senior QA analyst Andrew Rexroth.

Star Citizen's game director, Todd Papy, also left the company last week according to his LinkedIn profile.

Former producer Annie Bouffard shared on LinkedIn that she resigned from a "highly toxic company" having been gaslit when she "expressed concern about potential layoffs."

She claimed there were mass layoffs at Cloud Imperium at the end of January, which were "disguised" as a "relocation" to another office by the studio.

Bouffard alleged that her boss hadn't spoken to her since last November, and that during her annual evaluation she was "mocked in a condescending way when [she] said what mattered to [her] was the wellbeing of her teams."

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Cloud Imperium for further comment and clarification.

 

[Insane Metal]

I mean... with all the money they got...

 

[lh032]

scam ship packages not selling well?

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Any work in the industry? Every developer has some attrition when some are no longer needed as development winds down.

Aren't they in the polishing phase of S42? Think about what that could mean. Probably less hired help needed other than those who are optimizing. There were bound to be some layoffs. The word is nasty and gets attention since people like salacious headlines.

There could also be legit layoffs as well but they have S42 (polishing phase) and SC, there's some redundancy there which was never going to be permanent once the games stay winding down.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Fucking Herman Hulst.

 

[Ribi]

Lazy article it was a "hey you wanna move to Manchester if not sorry dude" this isn't layoffs it's fucking normal ass process. They hire more people than they fire.

 

[TVexperto]

 

[Hudo]

hey you wanna move to Manchester

Always a good conversation starter.

 

[NEbeast]

Is this because of acquisitions too?

 

[ProtoByte]

She claimed there were mass layoffs at Cloud Imperium at the end of January, which were "disguised" as a "relocation" to another office by the studio.

If this is true, then it's more in line with the kind of fly-by-night shit that used to happen in the 2000s.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Coma news.

[News] Star Citizen dev Cloud Imperium Games laid off staff following studio relocation

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/report-star-citizen-dev-cig-laid-off-staff-following-studio-relocation Staff at Star Citizen creator Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) have reportedly been laid off. These cuts, said ex-Turbulent producer Annie Bouffard, were "mass layoffs" excused as staff...

www.neogaf.com

 

[Ozriel]

Lazy article it was a "hey you wanna move to Manchester if not sorry dude" this isn't layoffs it's fucking normal ass process. They hire more people than they fire.

When someone asks staff to move to a different city or country at short notice of face termination, that’s pretty much a clever way to downsize.

 

[Alexios]

Turbulent, as some say is most affected, numbered "more than 45 experts", CIG as of their buyout in 2023 had over 1100, even if the whole studio left it's a drop in the bucket (and nothing like PlayStation's 900) considering they still hire more/open studios (like the Manchester studio announced in 2021 that opened 700+ jobs there, rather than 45, I guess they want it as central HQ?). With one (1) report of the studio being toxic maybe it's part of trying to correct it, or relocation was always part of the merger deal the higher ups knew when they took the $. Hope the affected land on their feet.

Cloud Imperium Games to Open New Videogame Development Studio in Manchester, UK, in 2022

Cloud Imperium Games to Open New Videogame Development Studio in Manchester

cloudimperiumgames.com

For UK devs, the Manchester studio is currently hiring for 26 positions, maybe to cover for those affected here. Going by some GAFers everyone should apply there to get paid a full wage to deliberately not do anything, maybe sleep on the clock and go indie/live off the clock while Chris gets rich

Manchester, UK

With multiple US and European offices, CIG employs the gaming industry’s most talented people on its most exciting project, the Star Citizen space SIM

cloudimperiumgames.com

Don't worry, they'll be able to keep paying all the old and new staff for a while longer folks.

Cloud Imperium Games Records $117.4 Million In Sales For 2023

nosygamer.blogspot.com

 

[justiceiro]

I feel like we already discussed this with a less click baity headline.

 

[squidilix]

Yeah, this one is fun. (sorry)

 

[alucard0712_rus]

I mean... with all the money they got had

Fixed for ya!

 

[Mister Wolf]

The Great Escape plan is entering its final stage.

 

[iHaunter]

Likely the contractors. They had 300+

 

[Havoc2049]

We aren't doing our part and need to buy more $5000 ships.

 

[Ribi]

When someone asks staff to move to a different city or country at short notice of face termination, that’s pretty much a clever way to downsize.

Until you realize they hire more than they fire. Now that's certainly a weird way to downsize indeed

 

[cash_longfellow]

FFS stop starting a thread every time a few people get laid off. This is getting out of hand at this point. Seriously, all for some BS thread recognition and activity