Phoenix Labs lays off 9% of Dauntless studio

DauntlessPhoenix Labs confirmed Monday to Polygon that it has cut 9% from its studio. The layoffs, which were made last week internally by several employees who tweeted them out, came as a surprise. The company spun off from Singapore-based Garena in January 2020, months after it acquired the studio.

Venture Beat reports that management bought Phoenix Labs, supported by investors, from Garena, in order to privatize the company. Phoenix Labs announced at the time that it was working on 30 games in various stages. DauntlessThe game has reached over 30 million users. Phoenix Labs has declined to reveal how many layoffs have affected the company, or confirm its employee count. LinkedIn lists Phoenix Labs’ employee base at 308 people, suggesting roughly 30 people were impacted by the layoff.

Phoenix Labs employs people in the United States as well as Canada.

“As part of the reorganization, we worked diligently to find new assignments for as many employees as possible,” a Phoenix Labs representative said. “While we succeeded in reassigning many people, there were cases where we had to part ways with some talented folks. Totaling 9%, some employees were affected. Some are located in Montreal, while others work remotely from the United States. In addition to severance and benefits coverage extensions, we’ve offered assistance for job placement in an effort to ease transition for all affected employees.”

Phoenix Labs has not announced its new projects, but noted they have a “wide range” in style and genre. Fae FarmThe game is due to be released in 2023. Also, the company continues to support free-to-play RPGs. DauntlessThe original release was in 2019.