Frostpunk 2 developer 11 bit studios cancels unannounced project and lays off employees
Less than a week after Frostpunk 2 won Best Sim/Strategy Game award at The Game Awards, developer 11 bit studios has ended development on a game known internally as Project 8, and laid off a number of employees.
Project 8 had been in development since 2018, according to a statement released on December 17 (via Insider Gaming), and was intended to be 11 bit's first-ever game "designed specifically for console gamers." But the project ran into trouble, particularly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the most recent progress review found "unresolved issues and challenges that would require further extensions of the production timeline and corresponding budget increases to address."
Changes in the gaming landscape since 2018 have also dimmed Project 8's prospects for success in the studio's eyes: 11 bit president Przemysław Marszał said the game "was conceived under very different market conditions, when narrative-driven, story-rich games held stronger appeal." That led to revised sales forecasts, presumably in the downward direction, and thus management decided to pull the plug.
The number of employees put out of work wasn't specified but 11 bit said 37 people were working on Project 8 as of September 30, more than half of whom will be given the opportunity to move to other in-development projects, including The Alters, which is slated for 2025. The "phased nature" of the layoffs means the final reduction in headcount and total costs associated with cancelling Project 8 won't be known until the release of 11 bits' full-year report for 2024 early next year. An 11 bit representative told PC Gamer that approximately 15 people are being let go, and confirmed that the cuts are restricted exclusively to the Project 8 team.
The ugly plague of layoffs that made 2023 so awful for so many game industry employees has not abated in 2024, even in its dwindling days. The situation has grown bad enough that even Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, a man not exactly known for his eagerness to embrace controversy, acknowledged the problem at this year's event. December alone has seen layoffs at Warner, People Can Fly, Deck Nine, Illfonic, Ubisoft, Torn Banner, Sweet Bandits, and quite possibly others that went unnoticed in the deluge.