Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is the latest games company to cut staff, confirming “a small number of positions were eliminated” as part of a relocation plan some former employees have criticized. CIG failed to specify the number of staff affected.
Space sim Star Citizen is considered one of the most controversial projects in all video games. Over the 12 years since its crowdfunding drive began, it's been called many things, including a scam by those who wonder whether it will ever properly launch. Its virtual space ships, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, are often the focus of criticism.
At the time of this article’s publication, Star Citizen had pulled in an eye-watering $667,489,262 from over 5.1 million “backers”. Star Citizen, as well as its star-studded single-player story portion, Squadron 42, are still without release dates.
MassivelyOP reported that game director Todd Papy, lead producer Jake Ross, assistant design director Dan Trufin, lead designer Dane Kubicka, quality assurance lead Vincent Sinatra, senior quality assurance analyst Andrew Rexroth, and Turbulent producer Annie Bouffard have all left (CIG bought Montreal, Canada-based IT developer Turbulent last year). According to MassivelyOP, Kubicka has said his exit was “due to restructuring.” Bouffard, meanwhile, mentioned leaving a “highly toxic company” after the end of January saw “a mass layoff, disguised as a ‘relocation of staff’ (when very few were able/willing to move to other countries/continents with little or no notice) occurred.”
In 2022, CIG moved to a new office in Manchester, England. When it announced the move, CIG said it would “create more than 700 jobs in the metropolitan area by 2023, and over 1,000 within the next five years.” CIG also has offices in Los Angeles and Austin in the U.S., the aforementioned office in Canada, and one in Frankfurt, Germany.
CIG issued a statement to IGN confirming it had “decided to co-locate as much development as possible”, and that as a result, “a small number of positions were eliminated.” The statement in full follows:
“As part of our normal processes, we regularly look for ways to make our operations more efficient, which can include restructuring in order to place a position closer to the team it supports. Now that we are back in office and seeing the progress and quality of work when our teams are in-person working together, we have decided to co-locate as much development as possible, which has resulted in some minor staffing changes as we move some development positions closer to their core teams. As a result of this consolidation, a small number of positions were eliminated and we continue to recruit for key roles within the company.”
This week, it emerged that developer Rockstar has asked staff to return to the office five days a week from April as GTA 6 enters the final stages of development. Rockstar also expressed concern about security breaches. Last September, IGN revealed in a report that Ubisoft Monstreal employees were left fuming over what they called broken promises in regards to that studio's return-to-office mandate.
The CIG cuts come during one of the most difficult periods the game industry has ever faced, with mass layoffs throughout 2023 and continuing into 2024. Last month, Microsoft axed an eye-watering 1,900 staff from its video game workforce following the $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard. Sony has followed suit, as has EA. IGN recently spoke to developers about these layoffs to try to explain what was causing them.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
