After being jettisoned from Xbox, Double Fine Productions has announced that it has let go of 23 of its team members.
In a public post, Double Fine boss Tim Schafer said, “Today, Double Fine Productions let go of 23 members of our staff”.
“As a small, tight-knit team, these actions are not taken lightly. Only the survival of our studio would make us consider such a painful action,” continued Schafer. “Our transition to becoming an independent company also means becoming a size that we can sustain.”
Double Fine Productions were one of four studios that were let go by Xbox, while Arkane Lyon is undergoing the consultation process required by French law. 1,600 people were also laid off at Xbox, with another 1,600 set to lose their jobs across the next year. The 26 at Double Fine can basically be added to that number, plus however many more will lose their jobs at Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs.
Double Fine was also given runway funding my Microsoft to help its transition back to an independent studio, but obviously that will only go so far.
WGB 