Until Dawn Developer Supermassive Games Cutting Up to 75 Staff, Following Mixed Response to Directive 8020
Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games has announced layoffs impacting up to 75 staff — the studio's third round of job losses in three years.
Supermassive Games, the developer behind the horror anthology series The Dark Pictures, has announced layoffs affecting up to 75 staff members. This marks the third round of job cuts for the studio in the past three years. In a statement shared on social media, Supermassive confirmed the decision as a necessary measure to ensure the company's sustainability. The studio expressed their intention to provide support to all impacted staff throughout the redundancy consultation process.
The latest launch from Supermassive was Directive 8020, another installment in the studio's horror anthology series. Released in May, the game received a mixed reception on Steam, where only 1,400 users had left reviews. Despite positive reviews from IGN, praising its polished visuals and improved gameplay, the game's performance on the platform suggests room for improvement.
Supermassive Games, based in Guildford, U.K., was founded in 2008 and has seen its workforce halved since 2023. The company previously laid off 90 staff members in February 2024 and another 35 in July 2025, while also delaying the development of Directive 8020. Before these recent cuts, the studio employed around 350 people in 2023.
The success of Supermassive's 2015 hit game, Until Dawn, has inspired The Dark Pictures Anthology series, which features standalone narrative horror games with branching outcomes based on player choices. However, recent titles such as Little Nightmares 3 and The Casting of Frank Stone, a 2024 spinoff for the Dead by Daylight franchise, have not garnered as much acclaim. As of now, Supermassive Games has not announced any new projects publicly.
Written by urgent.news from IGN's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
