Trion Worlds Undergoes Immense Layoffs

This has not been a good year for game studios. We’ve had a number of closings and countless layoffs, far more than usual, and while we might have hoped that Telltale would be the last victim of 2018, unfortunately that’s not the case, as MMO developer Trion Worlds, the creators of Rift and Atlas Reactor, has just undergone massive layoffs, and have reportedly cut roughly 175 people from their 200-man+ studio, meaning they’re down to a skeleton crew of twenty-five people.

The layoffs seem to be the result of Trion World’s acquisition by the German Gamigo group, a much larger studio based in Europe (obviously) that has a number of casual and MMO titles in their domain. And while cuts are far from unusual during acquisitions (since headcounts are limited and redundant positions need trimming), this is enormous even by those generous standards.

This news wasn’t actually broken by Trion Worlds, but rather, was leaked to Gamasutra by a trusted source. So we don’t know any official numbers, nor do we know what the official “plan” is for Trion games. The studio can’t function independently with so few people, so we can guess they might get absorbed within German Gamigo, who’ll also take responsibility for updating and maintaining Rift and Atlas Reactor. That, or they’ll send their own employees to fill out the now-vacant ranks.

It’s anyone’s game and guess at this point, but all the same, I’m sorry to hear the news. I hope those affected have the best of luck finding better jobs.