Dauntless and Fae Farm studio Phoenix Labs confirms layoffs and game cancellations

Dauntless and Fae Farm studio Phoenix Labs is undergoing significant restructuring resulting in layoffs and project cancellations.

While the number of layoffs being made by the company hasn’t been confirmed, former Phoenix Labs principal Engineer Kris Morness claimed “about 140” employees have been impacted.

Canada-based Phoenix Labs, which has offices in Vancouver and Montreal, said the decision to restructure was a “last resort” to ensure the studio’s survival.

“We are reorganizing Phoenix Labs to focus on our best-in-class live service titles, Dauntless and Fae Farm, and serving their communities,” it said in a statement published on its LinkedIn page.

“This unfortunately means canceling work on all other projects at the studio, which will impact many of our colleagues immediately. We are giving notices to everyone whose roles are affected.

“This restructure has not come easily, and truly has been the last resort to ensure Phoenix Labs can survive, and thrive in the long term.

“It’s impossible to put into words how deeply we value every talented individual who has contributed their hard work and passion to every project at our studio,” it added.

“We are doing all we can to help our departing team members in this interim period and encourage any studios looking for incredible talent to speak with the one-of-a-kind people that have been a part of Phoenix Labs’ journey.”

Formed in 2014 by a trio of ex-Riot Games developers, Phoenix Labs has released two titles to date: 2019’s massively multiplayer RPG Dauntless and last year’s cozy farm-sim RPG Fae Farm, both of which were generally well received by critics.

According to its website, it did have “several new projects in development spanning a wide range of styles and genres-fantasy, sci-f, action, strategy, and everything in between”.