XR Games, studio based in Leeds, UK Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded (2024) And Zombieland VR: Headshot (2021), reported that it laid off 86 percent of its staff.
The information was shared via LinkedIn by María Fernanda Díez Huerta, who served as Production Manager at XR Games between 2021 and 2023. Huerta reported Tuesday that the studio has now laid off 72 employees and is retaining only 12 of about 84 employees. It goes beyond restructuring.”
This includes a variety of positions in art, programming, QA, production, game design, and IT.
Neither XR Games nor its CEO Bobby Thandi has yet made a public announcement about the layoffs, but it's hard to imagine that doesn't have anything to do with its generally negative reception. Hitman 3 VR: Reloadedis a Quest-exclusive port of the stealth action game that proved to be a visual and mechanical mess at launch.
The round of layoffs comes amid two high-profile projects currently in development by the studio: Zombie Army VRA VR shooter game based on Rebellion's popular series and Starship Troopers: Continuity, Online co-op police shooter created in partnership with Sony announced just one day Before news of the layoffs first emerged.
But XR Games isn't the only one tightening its belt. Veteran VR studio nDreams announced in mid-September that it would lay off approximately 17 percent of the studio. This comes at a time when leading publishers and studios such as Embracer Group, Unity, Microsoft, EA, Sony, Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive and Riot Games are reducing their headcount.
Other VR studios affected this year include Meta's Ready at Dawn (Echo Solo, Echo VR), Sony's London Studio (PlayStation Worlds, Blood and Truth (2019), and independent developer Archiact (Doom 3 VR Edition).