Chalk another loss up for 2024: Deck Nine Games, the developer of Life is Strange: True Colors and Telltale’s The Expanse announced today that it’s joining the list of studios laying off employees. Specifically, it’s laying off 20% of its staff due to poor conditions in the games industry at present, it claims.
Deck Nine released a statement on X saying, “Like many others in the games industry right now, Deck Nine has been affected by the game industry’s worsening market conditions. Today we made the difficult decision to lay off 20% of our staff. These people are amazing, talented, and awesome developers. They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games, and we did not take this decision lightly.”
Several Deck Nine employees confirmed on social media that they’d been laid off, including cinematic and narrative designers. This is the second time Deck Nine has laid off employees in less than a year, having laid off around 30 people last May (though it did not give a reason for the layoffs at the time). It’s not clear what potential projects Deck Nine has in the works that may have been affected by the layoffs.
Deck Nine unfortunately joins an ever-growing list of games companies affected by layoffs. In 2024 alone, almost 6,500 industry employees have lost their jobs. Most recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced its plans to lay off around 900 people, including some at its most acclaimed first-party studios.