Kwalee Labs Lays Off Entire Luna Abyss Development Team Weeks After Game Launch

Kwalee Labs has announced the layoff of its entire nine-member development team, including CEO and production director Hollie Emery. The layoffs occurred earlier this week, mere weeks after the launch of their first-person horror shooter, Luna Abyss.

Luna Abyss was released late last month on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC, and was also a day-one title for Xbox Game Pass. Emery stated on her LinkedIn page that the team was made redundant due to reasons that were "completely outside of our control," and that all members are now available for work.

Despite the layoffs, Emery expressed pride in the game, noting the "love and support it received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media." Luna Abyss garnered an 81% score on Metacritic and was largely well-received by critics. The game puts players in control of Fawkes, an imprisoned woman tasked with exploring deep passages on a moon called Luna while monitored by an AI, Aylin.

While Game Pass player numbers are not publicly available, Luna Abyss saw a peak of 18,597 concurrent players on Steam near its launch. However, its most recent 24-hour peak was significantly lower at 310 players. The game is presumed to remain available on its current platforms.

These layoffs at Kwalee Labs occur within a broader context of industry challenges, as even prominent first-party studios at Xbox are reportedly negotiating with Microsoft to avoid potential shutdowns. The fate of those studios remains unclear.

(Source: GameSpot)