The inescapable cadence of layoffs has come for another studio. This time it’s FuturLab, the developer behind PowerWash Simulator. According to a report from Gamesindustry.biz, the studio had been in pre-production on a new project before that game was summarily cancelled. The project was apparently power washer–free but was projected to cost more money than it would have made, leading to its cancellation. As a result of the cancellation, seven developers were laid off. But that’s not where the story ends.
Another report on the layoffs from This Week In Games features claims from sources saying that the direct managers and team leads of the laid-off individuals were left out of the loop to “not give them any of the guilt,” while sparing other employees “the stress of not knowing their job security.” When the layoffs were eventually disclosed to the rest of the company, sources claim employees were allegedly instructed to not use the word “redundancy” and to call the folks let go “the leavers.”
Recently, there’s become a stigma attached to layoffs in the games industry. As developers and the general public become aware that these layoffs are increasingly divorced from a company’s health, any studio where layoffs happen—especially ones with popular, well-loved games like PowerWash Simulator—experiences waves of internal and external criticism. There’s also the psychological effect on the workers who remain, afraid for their future job stability in an industry that has none. It seems that FuturLab was aware of this and attempted to blunt some of that blow.