Unknown 9: Awakening developer Reflector Entertainment has confirmed it’s laying off 18% of its workforce, to better focus on a “new phase of development” and more efficiently deliver on its “most pressing objectives,” while guaranteeing that every member of the studio can “meaningfully contribute” to its ongoing projects.
Per Reflector, the changes were necessary as it could no longer provide guaranteed work to its employees. It has denied the decision was driven by commercial success or external pressures, likely to curtail speculation the release of Unknown 9: Awakening contributed to this need. Sales figures for the game have not been released, but it’s worth noting reception was fairly mixed, and the game only has a handful of reviews on platforms like Steam.
In the GamesHub review, we called it a novel and interesting adventure brimming with cool ideas, only somewhat dampened by the game’s lack of graphical prowess and repetitive combat. Others shared this assessment, and many more were less generous, criticising the game for a range of reasons (some fairer than others).
Rather than blaming its layoffs on this adventure, Reflector cited the “current reality” of the games industry, which is facing its largest crisis in decades, as publishing deals dry up, and audience wallets tighten.
Read: We need more games like Unknown 9: Awakening
Going forward, Reflector Entertainment will continue to develop a range of projects, with “two key production lines” now entering the early stages of development. This requires the team to be “laser-focussed on contributing to the projects that wholly benefit from their skillsets.”
Reflect has stated it’s doing “all that [it] can” to help departing colleagues, providing severance packages, as well as career planning support to those who’ve lost their jobs.
“We know that the community we’ve built over the years cares deeply about the people who bring our games to life. Our goal is to assist the affected individuals with the respect and support they deserve,” Reflector said. “As you can imagine, this is a trying time for us all, but we are committed to learning from this experience.”
Those impacted have taken to LinkedIn to report their layoffs, with folks from marketing and communications, narrative design, and more now out of work in one of the most difficult times yet for the games industry. As always, our thoughts are with those impacted by these layoffs.
