Super Lucky's Tale Studio Undergoes Heavy Layoffs

So far, 2020 hasn’t been as disastrous for layoffs as 2019 was (that year started rough) but you shouldn’t let 23 days of relative calmness trick you into thinking things are all hunky-dory in the industry: things are still tricky, as illustrated by the recent news to come out of Playful Studios, the developer of Super Lucky’s Tale and Creativerse, which was founded by the co-creator of Words with Friends.

Here’s what the founders, Paul Bettner and Katy Drake Bettner, have to say:

Continued changes in the global video game marketplace require Playful to evolve its approach to the development and production of our current and future projects. The studio will be pivoting to a more streamlined production model based on distributed game development and dynamic, project-based teams.

As part of this transition in our operating model, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to significantly reduce our full-time staff, effective today. We are truly heartbroken to be parting ways with many of our friends and colleagues. These are people who have poured their hearts into every game Playful has created, who have supported us and each other every step of the way, and have truly made this studio what it is today. We will be working closely with each person affected by this transition to help them move forward.

It's not terribly surprising to hear that they’re struggling. Super Lucky’s Tale did not perform terribly well, and reviews for the title were middling at best – which was a shame, as the semi-failure of Yooka-Laylee had provided it with a great opportunity to fill that niche. Plus, I think we can all agree that no one’s even heard of Creativerse, so it’s not hard to imagine why that failed.

We don’t have an exact number for how many people lost their jobs, but I wish them the best.