In the last few days it has become known that a noticeable number of employees have left the mammoth Star Citizen project, which has now raised $667 million through crowdfunding and the sale of virtual ships. The locations in the USA in particular are losing employees. Fans discuss the situation.
This is what fans noticed:
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There is talk of restructuring
What do people who left say? Lead designer Dane Kubicka talks about being fired due to a “restructuring” (via linkedin).
A producer at Turbulence, Annie Boufard, says she resigned from a “highly toxic company” without having a new job. CIG bought Turbulent in the summer of 2023 (via linkedin).
Lead producer Jack Ross speaks highly of his 10 years at CIG and how challenging his work there has been. He does not comment on the reasons for his departure (via linkedin).
Many other employees do not comment on their termination, all that is known is that they no longer work for CIG because their status has changed from “employee” to “backer”.
After years of growth – now a period of drought?
What is suspected to be the cause? The site MassivelyOP explains that CIG has been looking to grow in recent years, setting up a large headquarters in Manchester and buying companies like Turbulent.
But now it looks as if CIG is also shrinking in view of the difficulties in the gaming market. This could also be because developers refuse to relocate to Manchester, where CIG has to spend less money on taxes and salaries.
Most of the people who have now left had worked in locations in North America.
This makes the situation piquant: Thanks to its crowdfunding, Star Citizen is a game that is the focus of discussion like no other.
Negative news, such as layoffs, could have a direct negative impact on players’ willingness to support developers by purchasing new ships. Therefore, CIG is careful to ensure that everything looks good on the outside.
In September 2023 there was already a discussion about layoffs at CIG. At the time, developers said there were no layoffs, only 9 positions were relocated.
In 2023, however, the number of employees will grow from 900 to 1,000.
This is the discussion now: In a Reddit forum skeptical of Star Citizen, the current layoffs are being linked to the difficult situation of the gaming industry as a whole. It is not surprising that CIG now also has to save money.
One user, citing a good information network, said he believes about 100 jobs are affected, mostly in LA and Texas, maybe some in Montreal. But there is little discussion about it because many have signed a confidentiality agreement.
They now want to wait a few months until the next financial report clarifies CIG’s situation, but they believe that there is a lot going on behind the scenes at Star Citizen.
More about Star Citizen: Star Citizen finally shows what looks like a real game: “It was worth the wait”
Statement from CIG: “A few positions cut”
Update 2/29, 8:24 a.m. This is what CIG says: In a statement from CIG to the US site mmorpg.com it now says:
“As part of our normal processes, we regularly look for ways to make our workflows more efficient, which may include restructuring to bring a role closer to the team it belongs to. Now that we are back in the office and seeing the progress and quality of work when our teams work together in person, we have decided to do as much development together as possible, which has led to some minor staffing changes as we have some development positions have moved closer to their core teams. As a result of this consolidation, a small number of positions have been eliminated and we continue to recruit for key positions within the company.”