2 weeks Ago By Leah J. Williams
People Can Fly ( ) has announced a significant studio overhaul that will see in-development projects suspended, and 120 staff losing their jobs. As announced, the studio will reduce its self-publishing strategy by pausing “Project Victoria” and will also scale down the team working on “Project Bifrost.” Neither game has been formally announced.
Per CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski, the move has been made necessary by “external market pressures” which have reshaped the studio over the last few years. Notably, People Can Fly also announced significant layoffs , and confirmed the cancellation of the unannounced Project Dagger in . This title had been set for publication by Take-Two Interactive, but was dropped in 2022 for unconfirmed reasons.
At one point, the studio also had a project known as Gemini in the works with Square Enix, but after major staff reductions, it’s unclear if this is still in development. It’s also not mentioned in Wojciechowski’s latest announcement, suggesting it’s no longer a priority, or it’s been quietly discontinued. (It’s also possible it’s been renamed, as both Victoria and Bifrost appear to be new codenames.
) “Today we made a very difficult decision to reduce our self-publishing strategy by suspending Project Victoria, scaling down our team on Project Bifrost and restructuring some of our supporting teams at People Can Fly,” Wojciechowski confirmed on . “We are deeply saddened by the fact that this situation means suspending or parting ways with more than 120 talented Aviators, colleagues who we enjoyed having as part of our team.” “This action became necessary as external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts.
The video game market is still evolving, and we have to adjust with where things are today. We are redoubling our efforts with new work for hire engagements and focusing on the development of a single independent game.” “We believe in our teams, games and their potential, and we remain extremely committed to continuing that journey, but we need to tailor our plans to our financial capacity.
We are deeply grateful for the contributions of every team member impacted by this turn of events; their talent and dedication have helped shape our company and our games. These changes are deeply felt by all of us.” People Can Fly will now focus on a move away from self-publishing, and will work on just a single independent game.
Other projects in development will be produced with publishing partners, although it’s unclear whether these have already been adopted. Regardless of circumstance, our thoughts are with those 120 employees now losing work ahead of the holiday period, and during one of the toughest times yet for the global games industry..
