Outriders developer People Can Fly reportedly lays off "over 30" employees

People Can Fly, the developer behind the likes of Outriders and Bulletstorm, has reportedly laid off "over 30 people" working on a currently unannounced game - codenamed Project Gemini - that's set to be published by Square Enix.

As reported by Kotaku, People Can Fly development director Adam Alker announced the layoffs in an email sent to all staff working on the project, explaining the cuts were being made due to budget limitations and its shrinking scope. An additional 20 people are also due to leave Project Gemini, but will be shifted to other titles within the company.

"We understand that this decision impacts each of you," Alker wrote in the email, "and we want to express our gratitude for your hard work, dedication, and contributions thus far."

Addressing "those individuals transitioning out of the studio due to these changes", Alker added, "We extend our sincere appreciation for the skills and expertise you brought to the team [and] will keep our fingers crossed for your next steps in game dev and offer all our support."

Project Gemini was revealed to be in the works at People Can Fly (alongside four "AAA" titles and two VR games) last January, with a planned release of 2026. However, an update on Project Gemini shared in November noted the studio was entering into "strategic discussions" with Square Enix and that it was "highly probable" development "will not be continued... on the current commercial terms". That news followed September's announcement Take-Two Interactive had pulled out of a partnership to publish People Can Fly's Project Dagger after two years of development, but that work would continue.

The studio is also working on the Microsoft-funded Project Maverick, based on one of the latter's IP. Little is known about the title beyond its $30m-50m budget, but rumours persist Microsoft is gearing up for a major Gears of War revival.

People Can Fly is yet to confirm today's report of layoffs at the studio but they would mark the latest in an already devastating month for the games industry. As per Kotaku's tally, over 3,900 job cuts have already been announced in 2024 among the likes of Riot Games, Unity, Lost Boys Interactive, Thunderful, Twitch, and Behaviour Interactive. That's compared what's believed to be around 9,500 industry layoffs in 2023.