Lords of the Fallen developer CI Games has made 10 percent of its workforce redundant.
The company confirmed the cuts in a statement sent to Eurogamer and described the layoffs as a “tough but necessary” decision that will deliver “business strength and stability.”
“We would like to thank each of them for the part they’ve played during their time with us. Further business optimizations are being made to the organization’s pipelines and processes,” said CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski.
GamesIndustry.biz understands the layoffs will impact staff across multiple departments and subsidiaries including Lords of the Fallen studio Hexworks, Sniper Ghost Warrior maker Underdog, and the “majority” of CI Games’ marketing team
CI Games is based in Warsaw, Poland, but operates a number of internal studios and publishing divisions worldwide.
The studio launched Lords of the Fallen in October last year and said the title delivered 1 million sales in under 10 days. CI Games described the project as its “most important and ambitious” release to date, and explained it would be the first in a series of triple-A titles it hoped to release in the coming years.
It’s unclear whether the recent layoffs will affect those plans, which the studio first outlined in a five-year strategy update published in October 2022.
In that presentation the company indicated it had multiple projects in development including one that would aim to capitalize and build on the success driven by Lords of the Fallen. That title, dubbed ‘Project III’ would be developed by Hexworks and aim to deliver “more ambitous gameplay options for a wider audience appeal.”
Other as-yet-unnamed projects codenamed ‘Scorpio’ ‘Potential,’ ‘Expand,’ and Survive’ were also being touted at that time. CI Games indicated those projects would enable it to expand into the games-as-a-service market, explore options to harness external IPs, and license its own franchises to external partners.
Game Developer has reached out to CI Games to learn how it intends to support those impacted by the layoffs and whether its business plans have been affected by the cuts.