Predator and Friday The 13th devs IllFonic have "refined" an unspecified number of jobs out of existence
rockpapershotgun.comFriday The 13th: The Game and Predator: Hunting Grounds developers Illfonic have announced that they've laid off an unspecified number of staff as they "re-align" to "a refined strategy". No reasons for the layoffs are given in the statement, beyond a cursory gesture towards "the state of the industry".
"Today we had to accept the harsh reality that the state of the industry has impacted us here at IllFonic," writes CEO and co-founder Charles Brunghardt on LinkedIn. "It is with the heaviest of hearts that cuts to our teams had to be made today as we re-aligned to a refined strategy. There is a lot of talent in this group and if you or your team is hiring, please reach out so people can be connected to open roles."
The announcement doesn't confirm which teams have been affected, but Illfonic have offices in Colorado, Washington and Texas, USA. The company employed 78 people as of 2019, though this was before the founding of the Texas office.
As Matt Wales comments over at Eurogamer, it's possible the layoffs have something to do with the expiration of the license rights for Friday the 13th, which obliged IllFonic and publisher Gun Media to pull the video game adaptation from sale last December. The studio's subsequent asymmetrical horror games Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed and Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game don't seem to have found a following, going by the latest Steam activity charts.
IllFonic had high hopes for Killer Klowns, despite the relative obscurity of the license, viewing it as more of an everyperson game than Friday The 13th. "We've found that asymmetrical horror games aren't always for the hardcore gamer, so we've really tried to balance this out to make it fun and interactive for any type of playstyle," CCO Jared Gerritzen told Nic in May. "We've found with [our previous games], fans that don't play videogames but love the IP will come in. With Klowns, this is that opportunity to bring that 'evade and escape' vs having that hardcore shooter
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