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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Mass layoffs have allegedly taken place at Something Wicked Games. Over the weekend, senior animator Eric Webb claimed the studio laid off "most of [our] staff."

Programmer Andrew Woloszyn and writer Jessica Sliwinski confirmed they were among those affected. "Even though it was short, I was lucky to work with such extremely talented people," wrote the former.

Layoffs are damaging for all studios, but it's particularly hard on newer developers. Many close down before they can get their debut title out the door.

Without a project to show for it, that staff is unable to add whatever they worked on to their portfolio, to say nothing of the cost of relocating fairly recently.

Something Wicked's brief history​

Something Wicked was founded in mid-2022 by Jeff Gardiner, Charles Staples and Ekram Rashid. All three previously worked on Bethesda titles such as Elder Scrolls Blades, Starfield, and Fallout 76.

Late last year, it added another Bethesda alum to its ranks in Will Shen. Shen joined as a lead content designer over a month after Starfield had released.

At the time of its announcement, Something Wicked was a 12-person team at work on the RPG Wyrdsong. It's presently unclear what the layoffs mean for that project.

Following the studio's reveal, Game Developer talked with Gardiner about building his own studio and his responsibility to his team, which can be read here.

Game Developer has reached out to Something Wicked and will update when a response is given.

Wyrdsong dev Something Wicked reportedly lays off majority of staff

A current employee claims the studio had to let go most of its staff, almost two years after it was revealed.

www.gamedeveloper.com

 

[lh032]

AAA rpg by 12 person team? woot

 

[Zathalus]

All three previously worked on Bethesda titles such as Elder Scrolls Blades, Starfield, and Fallout 76.

AAAA pedigree.

 

[geary]

Phill got to them

 

[DAHGAMING]

 

[Denton]

Should have at least tried crowdfunding, if they have something decent to show. If only to raise enough money to convince investors there was interest (or find out there isn't). Last resort, but still better than outright laying people off and (likely) closing.

I was curious about it, there aren't that many AAA RPGs.

 

[KimDongHwan]

Super crazy, Programmer Andrew Woloszyn only shared 1 month ago that he was hired to work for the company, how could they hire him and month later being part of the layoff (unless it was just that he didnt share before, although his profile mentions that he started on Jan 2024)

 

[StereoVsn]

Man, so many small studios going under.

 

[Represent.]

Industry is in a pathetic place right now

 

[Laptop1991]

It's a shame that new studios shut down and lay off staff, but the tweet says Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim and the article then says Elder Scroll Blades, Starfield and Fallout 76, my disappointment wasn't so bad after reading that, those games are not the same for me.

 

[Havoc2049]

Sucks. Funding must have fallen through at the last minute, as someone posted above, they recently hired people.

I know it's only a teaser trailer, but Wyrdsong had me hyped.

 

[Ribi]

Man, so many small studios going under.

Almost like making a game costs money

 

[Labadal]

I am noticing a trend of studios that were on Sony press conferences, and not showing any gameplay getting closed.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Super crazy, Programmer Andrew Woloszyn only shared 1 month ago that he was hired to work for the company, how could they hire him and month later being part of the layoff (unless it was just that he didnt share before, although his profile mentions that he started on Jan 2024)

Management was banking on last minute funding to avoid closure, was operating as nothing was happening.
Last minute funding didn’t work, money ran out. Typical scenario.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

AAAA pedigree.

.

And Ubisoft still said that Far Cry 6 was AAAA.

 

[SJRB]

I am noticing a trend of studios that were on Sony press conferences, and not showing any gameplay getting closed.

A trend, huh. Which ones?

 

[Labadal]

A trend, huh. Which ones?

Off the top of my head, that FPS studio that was making a FPS, with former CoD devs.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

It would appear that game development is fucked. Sad, of course, for those in this story and future ones.

 

[Hudo]

It would appear that game development is fucked. Sad, of course, for those in this story and future ones.

Yeah. Even the con artists over at Cloud Imperium Games had to lay off people.

 

[StueyDuck]

I wish we'd get the news on things like what roles were let go, the average age, how many years employed etc.

 

[crackajack]

I wonder with all those studios getting created by "veterans" of studio x, y and z, why not one of those is solely owned and funded by the employees. Veterans most probably earned much more than I do, so if they have not spent their past on gambling and women, they all should have enough money to fund themselves without any need for a big publisher and truly make something they all can agree on without some outside influence.

Same as the pathetic kickstarters where small gamers are asked to pay, basically bet on promises, for people that most likely have erarned their whole life a better paycheck than the average gamer.

 

[Toots]

AAA rpg by 12 person team? woot

Might be small for a normal team, but thoses 12 dudes are veterans of Obsidian, the most respected rpg studio of the industry (by people having not played their games for about 10 years), and have worked on AAAA behemoth such as Fallout 76, Starfield, and the elder scroll gaas.
More seriously, it is crazy how much people live by the achievements of others in this industry.
It would be like the filipino guy from journey (who replaced Steve Perry) taking credits for all their 80s hits.

 

[lh032]

Might be small for a normal team, but thoses 12 dudes are veterans of Obsidian, the most respected rpg studio of the industry (by people having not played their games for about 10 years), and have worked on AAAA behemoth such as Fallout 76, Starfield, and the elder scroll gaas.
More seriously, it is crazy how much people live by the achievements of others in this industry.
It would be like the filipino guy from journey (who replaced Steve Perry) taking credits for all their 80s hits.

12 person is not even enough for AA indie game o.o

 

[Toots]

12 person is not even enough for AA indie game o.o

Give me ten Itagaki and i'll prove you wrong (and win the vietnam war)

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Another AAA bait that went south. Who could have guessed?

I have lost any sympathy at this point, to be honest.

 

[Schmendrick]

tiny studio with no trackrecord goes under......

uuuh, kay?

 

[Mr Reasonable]

NVM!

 

[diffusionx]

AAA rpg by 12 person team? woot

Looking at Avowed I'm not sure it's much more than that

 

[Ozriel]

I wonder with all those studios getting created by "veterans" of studio x, y and z, why not one of those is solely owned and funded by the employees. Veterans most probably earned much more than I do, so if they have not spent their past on gambling and women, they all should have enough money to fund themselves without any need for a big publisher and truly make something they all can agree on without some outside influence.

Same as the pathetic kickstarters where small gamers are asked to pay, basically bet on promises, for people that most likely have erarned their whole life a better paycheck than the average gamer.

You’re vastly overestimating game developer salary if you think the average veteran employee has millions of dollars in cash lying around.

 

[Ozriel]

AAA rpg by 12 person team? woot

They were 12 people when they announced the game. There’s nothing that says they planned to make the game with 12 people, and the article says they hired more

 

[Sentenza]

Industry is in a pathetic place right now

While it's generally true, it seems to be mostly a self-inflicted problem.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

AAA rpg by 12 person team? woot

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Sucks. Funding must have fallen through at the last minute, as someone posted above, they recently hired people.

I know it's only a teaser trailer, but Wyrdsong had me hyped.

They probably never got funding and couldn't find a publisher. The announcement teaser was probably aimed at finding a publisher. Unsuccessfully, it seems.

Too bad!

 

[YeulEmeralda]

While it's generally true, it seems to be mostly a self-inflicted problem.

I recently played Signalis which was made by two Germans in their basement. More soul than AAAA Calysto Protocol.