Just 3 months after launching Tales of Kenzera: Zau, developer Surgent Studios lays off 'just over a dozen' employees

Less than three months after the release of its debut game Tales of Kenzera: Zau, Surgent Studios has laid off «just over a dozen» of its employees.

The layoffs were initially reported by multiple Surgent employees (via Game Developer) who posted about their pending terminations on LinkedIn. Producer Philip Smy said he'd become «another casualty of the Wild West industry that is videogame development,» while level designer Pete Brisbourne wrote, «The chapter entitled 'Pete Works At Surgent Studios' is coming to a close at the end of the month.» Several Surgent employees have now added an «open to work» indicator on the profile pictures.

A few hours after the initial report, Surgent Studios confirmed the layoffs on Twitter. 

«Unfortunately, Surgent has joined the growing number of games studios impacted by layoffs this year with just over a dozen people affected,» the studio wrote. «It's a difficult time in the games industry, but we remain incredibly proud of our entire team's work on Zau and of the praise it has received from critics and players alike. Our focus now is on supporting those affected, continuing our work on Zau, and looking to the future with our next creative project.»

The number of employees at Surgent Studios prior to the layoffs wasn't revealed. The studio's LinkedIn page says it has between 11-50 employees; 37 LinkedIn users are «associated» with Surgent.

«This hurts deeply,» studio founder and CEO Abubakar Salim said in a separate message. «This isn't the news I wanted to share today.

»I am so proud of what the team have achieved over the course of these 4 years. When things got tough, every one of them stood so strong, it was inspiring. So to be delivering this news today really sucks. I know we're not alone here, but that doesn't make it easier."

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Thank you so much to those who have checked in. This hurts deeply. This isn't the news I wanted to