PlayerUnknown Productions hit with layoffs

Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene has announced layoffs at PlayerUnknown Productions after the studio failed to secure enough funding. He said the ongoing industry downturn made it impossible to keep the full team together for continued work on new games.

In a detailed message shared on X, Greene explained that “the games industry has been in a tough spot for a while, and we’re not alone in the struggle to find funding.” He added that he had personally kept the studio afloat for as long as possible: “I’m privileged to have had the choice to keep the studio’s lights on by myself… I could only do that for so long, and now we must move forward with a smaller team while finding the right partners for the project.”

Greene confirmed that Prologue, the studio's first game, is now being made available for free to everyone. The studio will also keep working on its new game, MELBA, with the smaller team going forward.

It is unclear how many will be impacted by the layoffs, as PlayerUnknown Productions is an independent studio. It isn't the first studio owned by an industry veteran / legend to undergo layoffs this past year either. Xbox is on the brink of shutting down Tim Schafer's studio, Double Fine, and a cancelled publishing deal forced John Romero (DOOM) to let go of staff at his studio last year. After failing to garner significant enough sales numbers, Build a Rocket Boy, founded by Leslie Benzies a former GTA producer at Rockstar, had to let go of staff this past year too.

KitGuru Says: Hopefully PlayerUnknown Productions can bounce back, but it is currently an extremely challenging time for small studios in the industry due to publishers tightening their wallets.

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