Deck Nine Games, the development team that took over stewardship of DON’T NOD’s Life is Strange franchise in 2021 to produce True Colors, is the latest gaming studio to succumb to the wave of industry-widelayoffs.
It’s letting go of 20 percent of its staff, citing “worsening market conditions.” The announcement came via a statement on Feb. 27 to X (formerly Twitter), where Deck Nine described it as a “difficult decision”—one that echoes many made by other studios and publishers in 2024, including one from PlayStation that happened earlier today. “These people are amazing, talented and awesome developers,” the statement read. “They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games and we did not take this decision lightly.”
While Deck Nine is most well-known for Life is Strange: True Colors, the developer was also responsible for the prequel title Life is Strange: Before the Storm and most recently co-developed The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Each of these releases was well-received critically, making these layoffs sting all the more for a studio that only had just over 150 employees before the downsizing, according to a FAQ section on its website.
It’s also not the first time Deck Nine has gone through layoffs recently. In 2023, narrative designer Elizabeth Ballou shared several Deck Nine employees had similarly been let go. She later added that, in this specific instance, team leads within the studio had taken the fall to protect lower-level employees—something that didn’t end up preventing more layoffs nine months later.
Deck Nine concluded its February statement with a plea: “Please hire these people if you can, they’re amazing.” However, with the 20 percent of staff laid off from the studio plunged into a turbulent job market alongside thousands who suffered similar layoffs over the past year, the prospects of finding more work within the industry look less likely by the day.
In the first two months of 2024 alone, well over 5,000 developers have lost their jobs due to mass layoffs and reshuffles. The year’s currently on course to surpass 2023’s numbers, where 9000 employees were let go in what was one of the bleakest years in recent memory for those working in game development.
The numbers sit in stark contrast to the recent slew of financial successes like Palworld, Helldivers 2, and Baldur’s Gate 3, leaving in their wake only questions about how the industry is struggling so severely that layoffs keep happening.
