The year 2023 will have been marked by a large number of layoffs within the video game industry, with around 10,000 people dismissed, but obviously, 2024 will not change the trend. As of this week, we learn that Bossa Studios has just laid off nearly a third of its employees, or 19 people.
The English studio, best known for its wacky simulation games like Surgeon Simulator, I Am Bread or I Am Fish, now only has 40 people on its premises. A dismissal which hurts, but which is justified by Henrique Olifiers. The co-founder spoke via GamesIndustry.biz explaining that the second half of 2023 was marked by numerous game releases AAAovershadowing the titles AA or independent. He adds:
Due to this extremely rare situation, we had to make the difficult decision to remodel the studio to reflect the position we find ourselves in at the end of this year, now focusing all our efforts on Lost Skies. This means we find ourselves in the heartbreaking situation of having to give up about a third of the studio, including some of our closest colleagues.
While we do everything we can to support them, we would appreciate any help our industry peers can give us in getting the word out about these great people – or better yet, hiring them into your team. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better game development professional than one of these Bossians, who we’ll vouch for without hesitation.
We often say that making games is hard, but nothing is harder than letting go of people you admire. Ultimately, we did our best to avoid finding ourselves in this position, and we are truly sorry it came to this.
Bossa Studios currently developing Lost Skiesedited by Humble Games, which will be a cooperative survival game for up to six players with flying islands and old technologies. Fingers crossed that the studio’s situation improves thanks to this game. You can also find Surgeon Simulator has €9.19 on GOG.com.
| Clint008 Editor – Tester |
