The co-developer of Age of Empires 4 had some sad news to share last night, as it was revealed that 121 employees were being laid off from the company (Relic Entertaiment), described as an "incredibly difficult" decision to make.
This was revealed in a statement on social media, where Relic and SEGA Europe explained that the layoffs were implemented in order to "restructure our organisation to ensure maximum focus is placed on our core franchises".
As mentioned, Relic Entertainment is the co-developer (alongside World's Edge) on Age of Empires 4, which is a game that's getting an Xbox release later this year, and the studio is also the developer behind Company Of Heroes 3 which is coming to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S as soon as next week.
Hopefully the Relic Entertainment staff that have been affected by this news are able to land on their feet ASAP, with SEGA promising to "support departing employees in every way we can".
What do you make of this news? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.
Comments 8
Sadly there isn't much love for RTS games in the gaming community today
Such a shame, probably either didn’t receive the sales they expected from company of heroes 3 or just have a bit of downtime between releases?
@TakeItEasy maybe not in consoles, but Phil is on the record stating some of their highest engagement right now is on games like Age of Empires. It’s likely heavily PC based, but I’m sure the latest console release of AoE adds to that.
It’s not a genre that is wildly popular among console gamers, at least not the sort that visit these websites, but we keep seeing strategy games coming to console. Tells me there is enough demand so budget is kept in check.
I’m guessing these layoffs are heavily based indeed on market forces and the RTS studio seen as the most obvious plate to cut costs.
@Friendly the game is not out yet, coming out next week. They perhaps have no plans to start a new one once the game is out and likely just plan to finish their AoE4 console work and then move that team to their next in-house project.
I know you can just plug a usb mouse and keyboard into the Xbox but I do wonder if a wireless Xbox branded KB+M along with a suite of compatible software along with some savvy marketing would bolster desire for traditionally PC genres on console
@Tharsman hasn’t it been released on pc already?
@Friendly didn’t check, but the console edition isn’t out yet. It is likely already gold, though, so “perfect” (on managements eyes) time to start giving notices to employees that will be cut off.
World's Edge should get them. Lately Microsoft seems to be all about co-development and not interested in nurturing developers.
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