Summary
- Don't Nod is preparing to lay off almost 70 of its workers, amounting to 21% of the studio's staff.
- The decision was made after Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden failed to meet sales expectations.
- The studio will release the narrative adventure game Lost Records: Bloom and Rage in two parts next year.
The original Life is Strange studio Don't Nod has announced a wave of layoffs as a result of its most recent games, Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, financially underperforming. Don't Nod is currently working on a new Life is Strange- like narrative adventure game titled Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, which is aiming to release in two parts in early 2025.
Not even a month ago, Don't Nod shared that Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden failed to meet the company's sales expectations. The former, an indie-style platforming adventure game, was released last October, and largely flew under the radar during a hectic Fall season filled with major releases. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden was released in early 2024 and garnered more attention from gamers as a more triple-A style action adventure experience. Despite the game receiving critical praise for its storytelling and third-person action gameplay, it struggled sales-wise, leading to the studio having to refocus its resources and pause development on two unannounced games.
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Now, IGN has reported that Don't Nod is preparing to lay off almost 70 of its workers, amounting to about 21% of the studio's staff. Don't Nod explicitly cites the financial underperformance of Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden as the reason for this move, which resulted in an 11% year-over-year decline in revenue over the first half of the company's financial year. "The initial performance support measures announced last spring no longer seem sufficient to maintain the company's competitiveness. As a result, today we presented a reorganization project to the employee representative bodies, which could set Don't Nod on a new development trajectory," said Don't Nod CEO Oskar Guilbert.
Don't Nod Is Planning To Lay Off Nearly 70 Employees
Layoffs may violate Union rules in France
Earlier this year, the French video game union Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Video (STJV) criticized Don't Nod for poor communication, understaffing, and other forms of studio mismanagement. In response to these new layoff plans, STJV voiced its displeasure with Don't Nod, calling the layoffs unlawful as studio management failed to inform its staff of such job cuts, adding that the studio's workers have been asking for transparency on the issue for months but have been ignored. Don't Nod will need to negotiate with STJV and other video game unions before going through with its planned layoffs.
The initial performance support measures announced last spring no longer seem sufficient to maintain the company's competitiveness. As a result, today we presented a reorganization project to the employee representative bodies, which could set Don't Nod on a new development trajectory.
If Don't Nod's plans to lay off 21% of its staff go through, the roughly 70 lost jobs will join the 13,000 other job cuts made across the industry this year alone. It seems that despite all this, Don't Nod's upcoming Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is still on track to hit its Part 1 release date of February 18, with Part 2 set to follow a month later on March 18.
