Lively Studio which is described as a sibling studio to Electric Square has laid off an undisclosed number of employees. Lively Studio and Electric Square work closely together and “recruit under the same virtual roof”. Both studios are owned by Keyword Studios and they offer a broad range of development services.
The studio is behind the creation of Detonation Racing and Warped Kart Racers. At the time of writing, GameBaba Universe spotted less than a dozen profiles on LinkedIn linked to Lively Studio that have updated their pictures to include the infamous green #ReadyToWork badge.
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A spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that the layoffs are due to a recent strategic review in the company which decided to “streamline certain areas of [the] business”.
“This decision was not taken lightly and was made with the long-term health of the company in mind,” the spokesperson said.
“We are supporting our employees during this potential transition and will provide any affected employee with appropriate support and career assistance. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of all our employees and look forward to a bright future with continued innovation and growth.”
Impacted Lively Studio devs informed a week ago
Several employees at Royal Leamington Spa-based Lively Studio were notified a week ago that their roles were at risk of being made redundant. Some of the employees made posts on LinkedIn at that time, soliciting the help of their connections to land new roles.
Senior QA tester James Skidmore was one of the first to break the news on LinkedIn. “Dun, Dun, Dun, another one bites the dust,” he wrote. “But joking aside, I was informed yesterday that my Role at Lively was at risk of Redundancy. So, with that in mind, I’m opening myself up for new opportunities.”
Skidmore joined Lively Studios last May but has over 9 years of QA experience including a 2-and-half-year stint with Ubisoft Leamington. Nicole Gregory who has spent nearly 2.5 years with the studio was also impacted.
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“I’m looking for a new 3D animator position due to being affected by recent studio redundancies,” wrote Gregory, followed by a rundown of her portfolio.
“I have been told that my position will be made redundant at the end of this month,” wrote writer ad narrative designer Ben Kaestner-Frenchman. “I’m actively looking for writer and narrative designer roles, and I’m open to both full-time and contract work”.
Other profiles linked to Lively Studios including junior programmer Connor Kearney, game director Steve Earl, and head of production Chantal Zuurmond have all updated their profile to reflect they are open to work, although they didn’t make posts about the layoff.
