Entire Luna Abyss Team Laid Off One Month After Game’s Release

The team behind Luna Abyss, an all-new cosmic horror title launched on May 21, has been made redundant, it has been revealed. Kwalee, the game’s publisher, has parted ways with the team, including the CEO of Kwalee Labs, the subsidiary responsible for producing Luna Abyss, the only game that the branch ever developed.

Kwalee, a company headquartered in the United Kingdom and founded more than 15 years ago, has yet to officially address the news, but a post on LinkedIn from Hollie Emery, former CEO of Kwalee Labs, reveals all.

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Luna Abyss Team Dismissed After Developing First and Only Game

In a post on LinkedIn, Holly Emery, who was up until this week the CEO and Production Director at Kwalee Labs, explained:

We’re enamoured by the love and support (Luna Abyss) received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media. Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers – and we are incredibly proud that it has finally seen the light of day (thank you to everyone who believed in us!).

Unfortunately as of yesterday, the entire team has been made redundant; a decision that was completely outside of our control. As a result, the entire team are available for work as of today.

(Thanks to GameInformer for the spot)

It has only been a few weeks since Luna Abyss released to a generally positive reception. It didn’t move mountains, but it garnered a rating of Very Positive on Steam and a Metascore of 81 on Metacritic. At the time of writing, Luna Abyss was also available as part of the XBOX Game Pass service, which would have helped drive up recognition.

Emery revealed a string of former Kwalee Labs employees impacted by the redundancy sweep, including character artists, a lead game designer, environment artists, a narrative designer and writer, and programmers.

This week, a string of XBOX studios found themselves facing the chopping block, with many smaller teams preparing for what seemed like an imminent shutdown at the hands of Asha Sharma’s new cost-cutting initiative. It has been suggested that Ninja Theory is closed, Compulsion might be next, and Double Fine is barely hanging on.

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