Soul Meeting, the studio behind the Drop Lifeless VR shooter franchise, introduced it’s shedding 15% of its staff, sustaining the discount is required for the success of upcoming initiatives.
The UK-based VR developer and writer introduced the information following in inquiry by UploadVR, which adopted a collection of affected builders posting the dreaded ‘Open to Work’ banner on LinkenIn.
“We will affirm a discount in our staff by 15%. This determination was taken to make sure the studio is aligned with the necessities of our upcoming initiatives,” the studio advised UploadVR. “We’re offering assist to the affected staff members as they transition to new alternatives and thank them for his or her contributions. This step was essential to place the corporate for future success throughout a difficult time for the gaming trade.”
“It appears I’ve as soon as once more been caught within the ups and downs of the trade,” wrote senior character artists Jonathan Pearmin in a LinkenIn publish. “I’ve been made redundant, efficient from the top of this week.”
In 2022, Soul Meeting spun out of the XR division of developer Pixel Toys, the unique developer behind Drop Lifeless (2017), Drop Lifeless: Twin Strike Version (2019) and Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister (2020).
On the time, particulars of the spin-out have been scant, nonetheless the studio went on to launch Drop Dread: The Cabin (2023) and Soul Spire (2024) for Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, and associate with Ubisoft of Simply Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity (2024).
This follows a rash of layoffs throughout the trade, together with headcount reductions at veteran XR studio nDreams in September, and Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded (2024) studio XR Video games, which laid off a majority of workers in October.
Notably, all three studios are based mostly within the UK, though belt-tightening has gone on throughout the video games trade since late 2023, with lay offs and inside studio closures affecting gaming giants Epic Video games, Xbox Sport Studio, and Sony.
Different studios caught up in financial turmoil embody Canada-based Archiact in January 2024, which developed the VR port of DOOM 3 (2021), social VR studio VRChat, which laid off 30% of workers final June, and Meta, which closed Prepared at Daybreak final August, developer behind Echo VR and the Lone Echo collection.
