Phoenix Labs has terminated a “majority” of its employees, the B.C. company revealed this week.
The Vancouver-based game studio, creator of the Dauntless franchise, “made the tough decision to part ways with the majority of the studio as part of unfortunate but necessary changes to our operations,” according to a post online.
The studio once had more than 200 employees, based on LinkedIn data. It is not known how many remain with the company today.
The significant downsizing echoes a broader trend of video game studios trimming the fat, but Thomas Wilde of GeekWire suggests a more specific reason: the “chilly reception” to Phoenix’s latest launch, Dauntless: Awakening.
“On release, [Awakening] quickly came under fire for a new, unannounced monetization strategy,” Wilde wrote. “Phoenix Labs had taken away players’ hard-earned in-game equipment, then offered to sell it back to them for real money.”
A co-op action roleplaying game, Dauntless originally launched in 2018, allowing players to “Hunt huge monsters, alongside other Slayers … and craft awesome gear.”
But the latest edition, Awakening, has an astonishingly bad rating on digital game platform Steam: an average of just one out of five stars after more than 1,600 reviews.
That metric strongly suggests the game’s December launch was an abject failure relative to both customer and developer expectations. As the studio’s flagship franchise, Awakening’s shortcoming will no doubt have a major impact on revenue. It’s easy to see how that could force a “tough decision” as Phoenix put it.
The troubles, though, date back to 2023. That is when blockchain gaming company Forte Labs acquired the studio, a move which ultimately altered the corporate culture, according to employees.
Forte allegedly insisted on changes that went against the studio’s grain. A round of layoffs followed in 2024.
Moving forward, the state of Phoenix Labs remains unclear. The company’s official post kept vague on this front, asking fans for patience.
“We will share more details in the coming weeks about what this means for Dauntless and Fae Farm,” the company’s memo reads. “For now, our focus is on supporting those affected through this transition.”
Phoenix Labs was established in 2014.
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