Sources have told Kotaku that developer Naughty Dog has laid off at least 25 contractor positions. Naughty Dog is responsible for Uncharted and The Last of Us series.
According to Kotaku, the layoffs have only been sent internally and were sent off last week. The employees were notified that their contracts are set to terminate at the end of October, but no severance has been offered. It’s estimated that about 25 roles are being terminated, most of which are in the quality assurance department. However, it’s reported that some in the art and production department are also affected.
Furthermore, sources say that the multiplayer spin-off for The Last of Us is currently seeing some troubles. Bloomberg had previously reported that Sony was diverting money away from the project, but now it’s being reported that the spin-off is currently “on ice.” Not outright canceled, but on the back burner.
25 might seem like a small number against the studio’s estimated 400 employees (roughly 6% of their headcount), but this is part of a growing wave of layoffs across the industry. Personally, I’m having trouble keeping track. Recently, Epic Games terminated around 830 jobs, Embracer has been cutting positions with some regularity, Team17 reportedly plans to drop a significant number of roles. Bioware, Firaxis, and on and on. This is in spite of growing revenue across the industry spurred by hardware sales.
Naughty Dog has not yet released an official statement on the layoffs.
