Wayfinder

Nov 9, 2023

Image: Airship Syndicate/Digital Extremes Nicole Carpenter is a senior reporter specializing in investigative features about labor issues in the game industry, as well as the business and culture of games. Wayfinder publisher Digital Extremes laid off an unknown number of employees on Thursday, according to several impacted people. The layoffs were focused on the company’s external projects and publishing teams, which were handling Airship Syndicate’s Wayfinder . The layoffs come after Digital Extremes, which released Warframe in 2013, replaced founder James Schmalz with former Warframe creative director Steve Sinclair as the new CEO in October. At least 20 people were let go, two people said. Digital Extremes has not confirmed how many workers were cut. The future of Digital Extremes publishing games like Wayfinder is also unclear as one source said Digital Extremes is looking to focus its resources internally. Action MMO Wayfinder was released in early access on Aug. 17 to mixed reviews , supported by both Airship Syndicate and Digital Extremes. Digital Extremes has not responded to Polygon’s request for comment. Digital Extremes had a Warframe Twitch stream scheduled for Thursday, which has since been postponed . One laid off worker told Polygon that Digital Extremes was their dream job. “I’m sick to my stomach,” they said. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay rent.” Multiple impacted people were just recently hired within the past three months, they said. If it feels like video game studios are cutting jobs every few days, that’s because they are — over the past few weeks, hundreds of people have been laid off across the industry. On Tuesday, it was nearly 100 people at Ubisoft . Before that, Destiny 2 developer Bungie went through layoffs . In late September, Epic Games cut 16% of staff , leaving more than 800 people without jobs. A website tracking game industry layoffs has counted more than 6,000 lost jobs this year alone. Sign up for the newsletter Patch Notes A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon Just one more thing! Please check your email to find a confirmation email, and follow the steps to confirm your humanity. Email (required) Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . You can opt out at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Subscribe