The game was met with disdain and disinterest from fans.
Bandai Namco developer Reflector Entertainment has laid off 18% of its staff. The news comes on the heels of the abysmal launch of the studio's first game Unknown 9: Awakening. While specific sales numbers are not forthcoming, Unknown 9 has been labeled with "overwhelming dislike" by users on Metacritic while player counts on Steam plateaued at 285; in the past 24 hours, the game managed to engage only 27. That's decidedly not good, and even if it's somehow doing better on console, there hasn't been any indication from Bandai Namco nor Reflector.
With news of these layoffs, however, it seems more likely that Unknown 9 has massively underperformed. That said, Reflector has put out a statement alleging that all employees laid off "aren't assigned to roles that our active projects require." Here's a bit more from the developer:
As such, we are reducing our team by approximately 18% of Reflector’s total workforce, a decision that impacts people who aren’t assigned to roles that our active projects require.
This change affects our colleagues, our friends, and their families, and we are doing all that we can to help them through this difficult time, providing them with severance packages as well as access to medical, emotional, and career planning support.
It's all a bit mysterious, isn't it? Regardless, layoffs are never a good thing, and it's looking like the end of 2024 isn't going to be all that different from the end of 2023 in terms of personnel cuts. Will this continue into 2025? We'll continue to report on the turmoil of the video game industry as it unfurls.
Source: Reflector Entertainment Website