Another studio has laid off most of its staff before it ever shipped a game. Announced on Tuesday, independent studio Gravity Well announced that it was laying off more than 40 people after failing to secure funding.
The announcement came via a LinkedIn post.
Gravity Well’s game never shipped
In their statement on the matter, the studio’s leadership group—Drew McCoy, Jon Shiring, and Mon Saetern—said that the studio lost its funding partner over the summer. Despite attempts to secure new funding, it hasn’t come, meaning the only option is to let go of the employees they can no longer afford to pay.
“Everyone was informed of the situation as it was unfolding, and have been aware of this possibility if we were unsuccessful in finding new funding,” the studio said. “We take it seriously that the team has stuck with us throughout this process, hopeful that we could find a solution before funds ran out. We are truly sad that we couldn’t get it done in time to keep the team together.”
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Gravity Well is moving forward with a smaller team while it continues to find a path forward. They admit, however, that a future for the studio is “uncertain” given the state of the games industry.
Founded in 2020, Gravity Well was founded by McCoy and Shiring after they left Respawn Entertainment. From the start, the company called itself a AAA game studio that had the goal to “shake things up in AAA game dev.”
Details on their first game, which has been in the works for at least six years, never became public. With questions about the future, maybe those details will soon come to light.
In other news, read about Rockstar being pitched a mission for Grand Theft Auto 6 involving a pet tiger. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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