Fenris Creations, the Icelandic studio formerly known as CCP Games, has confirmed layoffs on its EVE Frontier (official site) team. The blockchain game is still in active development. The studio says an undisclosed number of roles were removed after a review of the game’s priorities, structure and development plans.
Fenris says the changes are meant to set up a “more focused development structure” for Frontier. EVE Frontier’s own leadership proposed the cuts, according to the studio, and they apply only to this project. Fenris says they are not part of a wider company restructuring.
What it means for players
Engineering and quality assurance staff were among the employees who said publicly that they had been made redundant. Fenris has not said whether the changes will affect the game’s development timetable.
EVE Frontier is in its 7th Cycle. Each cycle runs for three months: new features are tested during that time, and then the whole universe is wiped.
In March the game moved to Sui Testnet. That opened its programmable Smart Assemblies to outside developers, who can now run custom logic on structures such as turrets, stargates and storage facilities. Alongside the move, the studio ran an $80,000 hackathon that encouraged both in-world modifications and external tools connected through the game’s API.
Six months after the buyout
The layoffs come six months after the studio regained its independence from South Korean publisher Pearl Abyss. In May, senior management and long-term investors bought the studio in a deal valued at $120 million, including cash and non-cash consideration. After the deal the business took the Fenris Creations name.
When the deal was announced, Fenris said the change of ownership involved no restructuring or layoffs. Its latest statement says that assurance reflected its plans at the time, and that later decisions were made in response to Frontier’s development needs.
