Palia developer Singularity 6 recently announced that it has laid off 36 staff members, adding to the long string of job cuts impacting the gaming industry. The company stated that the layoffs resulted from some of the same factors plaguing other developers this year.
On Wednesday, May 15, Polygon’s Nicole Carpenter reported that Singularity 6 had gone through its third round of layoffs. The developer reportedly laid off 36 staff members, amounting to approximately 40 percent of its staff. While no official statement from the developer was made regarding the layoffs at first, a spokesperson provided a statement to Game Developer on Friday, explaining the reason for the decision.
“Unfortunately we have had to restructure and reduce the size of our team as we stay focused on supporting Palia and serving our community long term.” The report reads, “We had to let 36 of our colleagues go yesterday, in an effort to navigate this tough economic period,” reads the statement issued by a company spokesperson. “We thank our departing team for all their work; we are committed to providing the best assistance and transition we can. We hope the industry will provide homes for these talented colleagues.”
Singularity 6 has already made a larger round of layoffs in April, resulting in 49 staff members losing their jobs after a smaller round prior to that back in September 2023. This means the developer has cut over 85 staff members within the last few months. Additionally, according to Carpenter, “two sources said a bunch of people left after the April layoffs, leaving the staff much smaller.”
The gaming industry has seen a significant number of layoffs over the past year. Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees in January, Sony announced that it was letting go of about 900 staffers in February, and EA made its second round of layoffs, which affected about 800 people, in March. This month, Square Enix announced its plans to lay off several employees to fuel ‘long-term growth’.
Palia had its full launch on Steam in March. It first arrived in Early Access for PC on Aug. 10, 2023. The game’s fate is currently unknown as Singularity 6 continues to struggle. While the studio could face more layoffs in the future, the game is at least currently active and still receiving support.
