Dreams and LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule is reportedly planning to lay off 15-20% of its staff, according to a recent report.
GLHF, a publication by Sports Illustrated, states that the studio conducted an internal meeting and informed its employees that around 20 out of the 135 staff members would be let go.
This news follows Media Molecule’s decision to end support for Dreams, a game that was released in early access in April 2019 and officially launched in February 2020.
In a previous article on the game’s official website, Media Molecule explained that they made the difficult choice to discontinue live support for Dreams after September 1, 2023, in order to shift their focus to an exciting new project.
Although players will still be able to play, create, and share content on the game, there will be no further updates. Additionally, players now have a 5GB storage limit for new creations.
The layoffs at Media Molecule are just another instance of widespread job cuts occurring in the gaming industry this year.
Not long ago, it was reported that Telltale Games laid off several employees, and Team17 is also planning significant job losses as part of a company restructure. Epic Games also recently announced a layoff of 16% of its workforce, which amounts to approximately 830 employees.
Microsoft also announced plans earlier this year to lay off around 10,000 employees, including some at Xbox and Bethesda.
In July, CD Projekt Red revealed its intention to lay off approximately 10% of its workforce, as the company aims to have more agile and effective teams.
Layoffs have been widespread across various other companies as well, including Unity, Riot Games, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, Bioware, and Striking Distance, the studio behind The Callisto Protocol.
