San Francisco-based developer Double Fine Productions announced yesterday that it had to lay off 23 employees in the wake of its newfound independence from Xbox . Founder Tim Schafer said in a statement:
Today, Double Fine Productions let go of 23 members of our staff. As a small, tightly-knit team, these actions are not taken lightly. Only the survival of our studio would ever make us consider such a painful action. Our transition to becoming an independent company also means becoming a size that we can sustain.
The people we are losing were all important. They all made an impact on our games and culture, and they will be missed. We are committed to supporting each affected person as best as we can, and we thank them for their hard work and commitment to the creative spirit we cherish here at Double Fine.
The studio was never big, and it is reported that this layoff round cut as many as 25% of the total manpower .
Double Fine Productions was acquired by Xbox back in 2019 as part of Phil Spencer 's attempt to broaden Xbox's portfolio for Game Pass . Back then, Schafer described the acquisition as a way for the studio to focus on making games (rather than struggling to secure funding) and even to attempt more experimental releases. Schafer would later even praise Xbox's willingness not to interfere with the studio's creative process.
However, both Keeper and Kiln largely failed to gain commercial or even critical acclaim, and with new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hitting a big reset button on the whole Xbox division, Double Fine was among the foremost candidates to be cut. The new Xbox plans to invest more in its major franchises , like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Halo, while Game Pass is seemingly no longer the North Star, and the space for experimental indies is essentially gone.
About the author : With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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