Smite 2 developer Hi-Rez Studios has been hit by more layoffs. This time, however, rather than developers being let go, it was executive leadership.
First revealed on social media by a former Hi-Rez employee, the studio has let go of president Stewart Chisholm, executive producer Travis Brown, and another senior staff member known as Radar. The news was then confirmed on Reddit by Alex Cantatore, who said that he is now leading the development team at subsidiary Titan Forge.
“Unfortunately, there were a handful of layoffs in senior management positions only last Thursday,” Cantatore, under his username “killgoon”, said. “Stew is transitioning away from Hi-Rez as part of this. Travis and Radar were also affected, as well as two folks in senior management on the Rally Here side of the business. I am very sad to be losing all of them.”
Cantatore said that the board at Hi-Rez Studios felt that the company had “a lot of senior management in relation to our current size.”
After the news of the moves started to make rounds, Chisholm took to LinkedIn to officially announce his departure, claiming his departure has “been discussed for a long time”.
“It’s bittersweet to share that, in June, I am leaving Hi-Rez Studios after 17 years,” Chishold said. “This is a transition that has been discussed for a long time, but the timing was finally right.”
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He added that he’s excited about new projects he’ll be working on in the future while also admitting that things have been tough at Hi-Rez over the last “few years”.
“The last few years have been difficult for Hi-Rez, and for the industry,” he said. “Certainly not everything has worked out as we hoped, but I think we also have left a unique footprint on the industry — and tried to carve out a space as a mid-size cross-platform games-as-a-service pioneer, relentlessly fighting against giants.
“The team that remains is absolutely incredible and I know they will enjoy success. The effort and passion they have for the players and for the SMITE IP is unmatched.”
As far as the future of Smite 2 and Hi-Rez, Cantatore said that the “core mission” of the studio hasn’t changed, nor has anyone else directly working on Smite 2 been affected.
“We will continue to focus our efforts on improving the core game and new player experience, while adding more Gods at our current one-per-two-weeks pace,” he said.
Back in February, Hi-Rez held layoffs that impacted roughly 70 people. Most of those layoffs involved people working on Paladins and the original Smite while Smite 2 remained the studio’s priority.
What do you think of Hi-Rez making changes at the executive level with layoffs? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming forums.
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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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Smite made a big mistake abandoning their first game for the second one. OG players feel left behind and betrayed. It’s very upsetting that they put so much focus on creating this new game experience when they should’ve kept improving the first. Shame.
Sorry but I disagree. Real fans have moved on to smite two and continue to support the future of hi rez. I’ve been to worlds twice and I have been playing smite from alpha. Smite 2 is just a better game overall and it’s still in beta.
Smite was dated, needed a new coat I’d paint, ppl need to learn to let go and embrace the new, 2 is much better anyway.
Agreed TJ