XR Games, the Leeds, UK-based studio known for Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded (2024) and Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever (2021), have laid off a reported 86 percent of its staff.
The information was shared by María Fernanda Díez Huerta via LinkedIn, who was Head of Production at XR Games from 2021 – 2023. Huerta reported on Tuesday the studio has now laid off 72 employees, retaining only 12 out of around 84, something she notes “goes beyond restructuring.”
This includes a number of positions in art, programming, QA, production, game design and IT.
Neither XR Games nor its CEO Bobby Thandi have made a public announcement addressing layoffs yet, however it’s hard to imagine it doesn’t have something to do with the generally unfavorable reception of Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded, a Quest-exclusive port of the stealth-action title that proved to be a visual and mechanical mess at launch.
The layoff round comes amid two high-profile projects currently in production by the studio: Zombie Army VR, a VR shooter based on the popular franchise from Rebellion, and Starship Troopers: Continuum, an online co-cop shooter created in partnership with Sony—announced just a day before news of the layoffs first broke.
XR Games isn’t the only one who’s tightened its belt though. VR veteran studio nDreams announced in mid-September it was laying off around 17 percent of the studio. This comes amid the backdrop of a number of top publishers and studios reducing headcounts, such as Embracer Group, Unity, Microsoft, EA, Sony, Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive and Riot Games.
Other VR studios affected this year also include Meta’s Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo, Echo VR), Sony’s London Studio (PlayStation Worlds, Blood & Truth (2019), and indie developer Archiact (Doom 3 VR Edition).
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