Dauntless Developer Phoenix Labs Lays Off 50+ More Employees, With Studio Likely to Close – Insider Gaming
The remainder of Phoenix Labs developers have been laid off, with the studios game ‘Dauntless’ and it’s studio likely to close.Speaking with now past-employee’s at the studio, it’s understood that around 50 employees have been made redundant today. Several of those employee’s now believe that the Dauntless game is now dead, and that Phoenix Labs is likely to shut down, although Parent company Forte has yet to make such an announcement.According to those familiar with the situation, no one at Phoenix Labs still has a job with one person saying it was “surprising” that it was announced as round of layoffs instead of a studio closure.Forte, a blockchain company, acquired Phoenix Labs around summer 2023 and in May 2024 made more than 100 of its staff redundant. Forte was asked to comment, but did not supply one in time ahead of publication. Following the internal announcement, Phoenix Labs staff took to their Dauntless Discord server to make the announcement of redundancies, where it was said that “Earlier today, the majority of our development team was impacted by significant reductions at Phoenix Labs. This has been a heartbreaking decision for us, and we are deeply saddened for the talented individuals who are affected.”The statement continued, “We know you may have questions about what this means for Dauntless and its future. While we don’t have all the answers at this time, we are committed to keeping you informed and will share updates as soon as we can.”“Your support means the world to us, and we are truly grateful for this incredible community. Thank you for standing with us during this challenging time,” it concluded.Phoenix Labs was founded in April 2014 and is best known for Fae Farm and Dauntless, with the company also having had multiple games in development before being cancelled by Forte after the studios acquisition. The latest rounds of layoffs put 2025’s count well over 500 known jobs lost, with estimates having it over 700. Let us know down below, and join more discussions in the official Insider Gaming forums.For more Insider Gaming, read our official review of Sniper Elite: Resistance and check out what Xbox head Phil Spencer had to say about the future of Starfield. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.Join the discussion → Loading new replies…RegisteredWe’re getting all of these layoffs and closures which make it seem like the industry is losing a ton of jobs. But we don’t have statistics on the amount of jobs created. Is it really as bad as it seems? Or are there jobs being created to account for some of the losses?
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Source: https://insider-gaming.com/phoenix-labs-layoffs-closure/
