Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic is laying off staff throughout the business as they wrestled with what they call “a period of deep change in the way games are created and raised funds.” It is not clear what exactly these “deep changes” are. Do you want to spike your budget? An evergreen service game that drinks all oxygen? Is the decline in interest in the mascot platformer Pleitonic genre best known? Either way, the outcome is that a lot of artists, game designers, story designers, producers, UI or UX people are looking for work now.
“We’ve all seen in recent years how the gaming industry is changing. After the studio, we found ourselves in a situation where the studio continues to exist. They have to make painful decisions – decisions that impact the lives of so many individual talented developers,” reads a statement on social media. “This is not a reflection of anyone’s talent or dedication, and those leaving have put so much of a heart, creativity and care into everything we do.”
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Playtonic Brand Manager Anni Valkama shares a list of departure staff on LinkedIn. “Whether you hire yourself or not, whether your company is hiring or know who you employ, these are some of the best artists, designers, producers and writers you can have on your team,” she writes.
In a social media statement, Playtonic further commented, “This is not just a difficult moment,” and “it needs to be done as the landscape is changing.” All of these are drawn more sensitively in words than “adjusting” Microsoft’s 1900 work to the sun or “rationalizing” Take-Two’s fistful “rationalizing” but doesn’t answer many questions.
Playtonic was founded in 2014 by a former member of Rare. Their first game, the dual character hop bhopper, has come back with convincingly to the age of Banjo Kazooie’s glory, but has not illuminated my world as a reviewer. Their subsequent 2.5D Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair found a warm reception, but in 2021 they launched their publishing department, Playtonic Friends. Tencent bought a minority stake in Playtonic later that year.
2020-2021 was a boom period throughout the gaming industry thanks to many of us playing games from home during the pandemic lockdown. Many publishers expanded to meet demand, climbing the stream when the lockdown ended and cash stopped flowing in sufficient quantities for investors. At the very least, this is a summary of an increasingly worn-out elevator as you try to scroll to the bottom of the layoff feed. I want Playtonic to give more details on why these layoffs are needed.