Supermassive Games announces up to 75 layoffs ahead of Little Nightmares III

Supermassive Games, the UK studio behind Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology, said today that up to 75 jobs could go. The company has opened a formal consultation process and described the cuts as a “necessary step” for the studio’s long-term sustainability.

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It comes in another bad stretch for the games business. If the reduction goes through, it would mark Supermassive’s third straight year of layoffs, and this one is a big hit for a studio that reportedly reached around 350 employees in 2023.

Waiting on Little Nightmares III? Then pay attention.

Supermassive took over the Little Nightmares series from Tarsier Studios, which makes Little Nightmares III an especially important game for the studio, creatively and commercially. The game was already delayed to 2025, so this is likely to bring a new round of concern about the schedule, the level of polish, and what post-launch support might look like, even though there’s still no confirmation of another delay.

The cuts also come after an uneven run for the studio, including the mixed reaction to The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 in 2026. And the next project connected to Until Dawn isn’t being made by Supermassive at all, with Firesprite handling that one instead.

Right now, Supermassive says it’s supporting affected staff and continuing work on its active projects. That’s where things stand as the layoff wave that started in 2022 keeps tearing through the games industry, hitting companies like Microsoft and EA and continuing to change studios people have known for years.

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