Life is Strange sequel studio Deck Nine lays off 20% of staff

Deck Nine, the studio behind Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Life is Strange: True Colors and Telltale series The Expanse, has laid off a fifth of its staff.

A statement on the studio’s official X account confirmed the cuts, citing the condition of the games industry as the reason.

“Like many others in the games industry right now, Deck Nine has been affected by the game industry’s worsening market conditions,” it reads.

“Today we made the difficult decision to lay off 20% of our staff. These people are amazing, talented, and awesome developers. They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games and we did not take this decision lightly.

“Please hire these people if you can, they’re amazing.”

Shortly before the official statement was made, narrative designer Elizabeth Ballou confirmed that she had been laid off, adding that affected staff were locked out of their work email, before seemingly being allowed to access it again.

“They just gave a big speech about giving us time to say goodbye, get materials we needed, etc,” she wrote, “then immediately locked us out of our work email.

“We are all getting two weeks of severance, including people who have worked at the studio for 7+ years.”

She then added: “Update: they unlocked work email. I think they got immediate pushback for doing the thing they gave a speech saying they would not do.”

The cuts are the latest in a long line of layoffs plaguing the games industry. Earlier this week PlayStation confirmed that it was laying off around 900 employees worldwide, around 8% of of its entire workforce.

Game developer Farhan Noor, who has been tracking job cuts dating back to the start of 2023 on videogameslayoffs.com, estimates that around 10,500 games industry employees were laid off last year.

Less than two months into 2024, Noor’s total for this year already sits at 7,100 layoffs.