nDreams, the VR-focused developer behind the likes of Far Cry VR and Synapse, has confirmed restructuring and redundancies that could affect up to 17.5 percent of its workforce.
The UK studio, which was founded in 2006, currently consists of four teams – nDreams Studio, Orbital, Near Light, and Elevation – employing around 250 people between them. That means upward of 40 staff could lose their jobs as nDreams’ redundancy process proceeds.
In a statement provided to Game Developer, nDreams CEO Patrick O’Luanaigh blamed the cuts on a “challenging VR games market” requiring a “renewed strategic focus”. O’Luanaigh added that jobs may be cut at all levels, “including senior leadership”.
“We are working tirelessly to support our team with the respect and care they deserve throughout this challenging process,” O’Luanaigh wrote, “including all our efforts to comprehensively assist those whose positions may be impacted to move into new roles within nDreams or elsewhere.”
“Having been fully-focused on VR development since 2013,” he continued, “we have inevitably faced many challenges in building a modest independent studio into a world-leading VR game developer… These necessary considerations of losing valued team members are the most difficult yet, but our belief in XR gaming is undimmed.”
VR games Frenzies and Vendetta Forever, both currently in development at nDreams, are said to be unaffected by the restructuring, with O’Luanaigh insisting the changes will “better serve current and future audiences in creating medium-defining titles for years to come.”
Today’s news follows nDreams’ $110m USD acquired by Swedish conglomerate Aonic last November, and continues a year which has now seen over 12,500 games industry workers lose their jobs. In February, Sony laid off 900 PlayStation employees, while Microsoft’s latest Xbox layoffs means over 2,550 workers have lost their jobs at the company in the last year.
Back in March, GamesIndustry.biz’s Chris Dring explored some of the reasons behind the mass layoffs impacting the games industry over the past few years.
