The developer behind Tales of Kenzera: Zau, Surgent Studios, has become the latest company to fall victim to the recent layoff wave that has been plaguing the video game industry.
Surgent Studios confirmed the layoffs in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday. It read that the layoff affected just a bit more than a dozen employees and acknowledged that it has become the latest company to layoff workers this year.
Surgent Studios Suffers Layoffs
(Photo : Surgent Studios / Screenshot taken from Steam)
The studio also noted that this was a difficult time for those in the video game industry but said that it was still proud of its entire team's work on Tales of Kenzera: Zau. The company said that moving forward, it would shift its focus on supporting the people who have been affected.
Additionally, Surgent Studios said that it would continue to put work in on its game and will look to the future for its next creative projects. The founder of the company as well as the director of Tales of Kenzera: Zau is Abubakar Salim, according to IGN.
Salim also shared a statement on his X account shortly after news of the layoff broke and said, "This hurts deeply. This isn't the news I wanted to share today." He said that he was proud of the team's efforts and has tried to encourage others to hire the people who have been laid off.
Before Surgent Studios posted on X regarding the layoffs, there were reports that a number of the studio's employees shared on LinkedIn and other social media platforms that they were looking for new work. The situation also comes only three months after the release of the studio's debut title.
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The company's post on X noted that Tales of Kenzera: Zau drew positive reviews when it was first released on Apr. 23, 2024. It is available to play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
The people who worked at the studio and posted on social media platforms include level designer Peter Brisbourne. He said on LinkedIn that the chapter entitled "Pete Work At Surgent Studios" was coming to a close at the end of the month, said GameDeveloper.
The Video Game Industry
Jordan Smee, a former Surgent Studios technical artist corroborated the news and said that they were joining all the people who were affected by industry layoffs this year. Another person wrote on Bluesky revealing that they have officially been laid off.
The company was billed as a transmedia studio with "a pioneering philosophy to storytelling across film, television, games, and emerging platforms." Surgent Studios had previously worked on films such as Wild Goat Surf, Essex Girls, and Measure.
Despite many Western studios suffering layoffs, this is not something that is true for the majority of companies in Japan. One example of this is FromSoftware, whose president, Hidetaka Miyazaki, recently came out to vehemently support his team with no layoffs planned.
Konami has also started growing its gaming business after making a retreat in the 2010s for the land of pachinko. On the other hand, Capcom recently increased salaries for its workers far above the recent inflation stats of 2.5%, according to GamesIndustry.
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