Tales of Kenzera Developer Surgent Studios Lays Off Employees
Another video game developer is facing financial hardships, and this one is brand new. Surgent Studios is the developer behind Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, their debut game that was released in April and distributed by Electronic Arts. The game was a mega-bomb, peaking at 287 concurrent players on Steam, and – I’m sure not coincidentally – it was a Sweet Baby Inc. game, meaning it found its way to Kabrutus’ Sweet Baby Inc. Detected curator. Over the past few days, various Surgent Studios employees have posting on LinkedIn about losing their jobs. Today, Surgent Studios posted an official release confirming that they have laid off “just over a dozen” employees:
— Surgent Studios | ZAU OUT NOW (@surgentstudios) July 2, 2024
Surgent Studios CEO Abubakar Salim (an actor who was in 24: Live Another Day and has a role in this season of House of the Dragon) also expressed his regret:
Thank you so much to those who have checked in. This hurts deeply. This isn't the news I wanted to share today.
I am so proud of what the team have acheieved over the course of these 4 years. When things got tough, every one of them stood so strong, it was inspiring.
So to be… https://t.co/Q0C7H5udvv
— Abubakar Salim (@Abzybabzy) July 2, 2024
I’m sorry these developers lost their jobs, but looking at the larger picture, it’s hard not to see this as another mark against Sweet Baby Inc. They’re becoming a liability to the extent that people are losing their jobs because nobody wants to play the games this firm is attached to. And a good part of the blame does have to rest with the developers who hire them; one thing those attempts to defend Sweet Baby Inc. were right about was that they are commissioned by devs who want their influence on their games. They’re invited in, as opposed to sneaking through the window, and the result is felt by people who probably deserve it less than the architects of this woke gaming push. As for Surgent Studios, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU had to be a devastating loss for them to be laying people off based on their very first game. According to their website, they don’t have any other games in development. Maybe they’ll stick to movies from now on; games are expensive to produce and require huge success to bring a return. At the very least, maybe they’ll leave Sweet Baby Inc. out of their next one.
