UK developer XR Games is undergoing a large-scale restructuring with 72 employees facing redundancy.
Founded in 2017, the Leeds-based XR Games is best known for its work on last month's Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded, Zombieland: Headshot Fever, and the upcoming Zombie Army VR. Less than 24 hours after XR Games and Sony Pictures Virtual Reality revealed Starship Troopers: Continuum, multiple employees now face imminent redundancies.
Bobby Thandi, Founder and CEO for XR Games, provided UploadVR with the following statement.
“I’m heartbroken that we’re going to be losing some of our incredibly dedicated, talented and valued colleagues. We’ve spent many months carefully exploring alternative solutions in the face of a challenging VR gaming market and a tough broader gaming landscape, and this is one of the hardest business decisions we’ve faced.
Our priority during and after this consultation process is to treat all team members with the utmost respect and care. We are committed to helping those affected by this through outplacement support, such as CV clinics, portfolio advice, interview preparation and practice, and signposting available jobs in the industry. We also have mental health support available for our staff.
I’m so very proud of our teams for their hard work on Hitman 3: VR Reloaded, which will continue to receive patch support, as well as Zombie Army VR and Starship Troopers: Continuum, both of which are due for launch this year. We want to be able to develop innovative titles for many years to come, and we’ll work to navigate this transition and shape the future of XR Games.”
Before making an official statement, multiple employees confirmed the news that 72 people are being made redundant across various departments, including the entire IT team. The studio states that it employs "over 100 members of staff." However, this may be incorrect. María Fernanda Díez Huerta, XR Games's former Head of Production, states XR Games will only retain 12 out of 84 people.
The layoffs follow a particularly rough launch for Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded on Quest 3, which faced criticism in our own review for visual issues and flatscreen-derivative gameplay. XR Games later released a statement admitting the game "has not met our own high expectations" and sought to address this with a major "day four" patch.
It follows last month's news that another UK-based VR developer, nDreams, will undergo layoffs affecting 17.5% of staff right before the launch of two upcoming games; Vendetta Forever and Frenzies. At the time, CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh informed Game Developer that the layoffs could affect all levels, including senior leadership.
Update Notice
This article was updated on October 4, 2024, adding the statement XR Games released about the layoffs.
