TerraTech developer Payload Studios has announced that it is laying off 25% of its workforce. The official announcement was shared by one of the company’s founders and CEO Russ Clarke on LinkedIn. Those impacted are cut across artists, designers, community managers, and administrators.
Payload Studios devs celebrating Christmas in 2023
“With a heavy heart, I have to report that Payload has not managed to avoid the struggles affecting the wider games industry, and we have now confirmed a round of redundancies affecting about 25% of the team,” Clarke announced on LinkedIn.
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“We tried very hard to avoid this, and I won’t pretend that we got everything right over the last few years – but ultimately the games market has been very tough in recent times, and shows little sign of getting easier. Small independents like us have no protection from this, other than ‘nailing it’ every time, which is much easier said than done.
“Payload will carry on, and bounce back from this, I firmly believe; but it’s a hard road and it will stay hard for a good while longer. TerraTech and TerraTech Worlds will continue to be maintained and developed without interruption – we thank our wonderful community for their support, and we wish the best to those amazing co-workers with whom we have shared this incredible journey, but must now regretfully part ways.”
The CEO’s post was shared by the company’s LinkedIn page adding that they would do “everything we can to support them find new opportunities in the game industry”. So far, only five names have been shared by the company as those facing redundancy. However, the numbers could be higher because the company size is around 48 employees.
Payload Studios was more than an indie game maker
Payload Studios is a British indie game studio founded by Russ Clarke and Vincent Scheurer. Their flagship release was TerraTech, a sandbox construction and combat game. Founded in 2013, the company has its headquarters in Farringdon, London.
In addition to making games, Payload Studios also runs the Tentacle Zone stand at games conventions across the UK. “The stand offers indie developers an affordable way to show their games with full support from our friendly team and all artwork and equipment provided,” the company explained.
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“The Tentacle Zone has also expanded to include cohabiting workspace in our studio, we currently share space with 4 other talented indie studios. We also host events for the London games community including our diversity focused Game On series.”
A while ago, Payload Studios announced a minority stake investment from Tencent, a leading Internet and technology company. At that time, Payload Studios said the “investment will support the growth of the team and development of future titles with Payload’s signature community-driven model”.
GameBaba Universe did not find a post from any of the impacted employees. However, some of them have updated their profiles to include the infamous green #ReadyToWork banner. The only post related to the layoffs was from concept artist Piers Reed, who apparently was not impacted.
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“Unfortunately, Payload Studios is undergoing restructuring and some of my colleagues have been impacted, wrote Reed. “These people are top-tier in their fields, and I couldn’t recommend them enough to anyone looking to hire exceptional talent.”
Last year, around 10,000 jobs were lost in the game industry. The number for this year currently stands at over 11,000 with four months to go. While the wave of layoffs has slowed down compared to what it was earlier this year, news like Payload Studios’ layoff is a reminder that the industry is not out of the woods yet.
