Major layoffs have reportedly occurred at Something Wicked Games, a studio founded by former Obsidian, BioWare, and Bethesda veterans, according to revelations made by former employees cited by Game Developer.
Eric Webb, Senior Animator, was the first to reveal the situation, stating that Something Wicked Games was “forced to lay off the majority of its employees” over the past weekend.
According to Game Industry Layoffs, this reduction impacted around 40 employees at Something Wicked Games, including programmer Andrew Woloszyn and writer Jessica Sliwinski.
Something Wicked Games had a team of 12 when it was established in mid-2022. This number increased to 38 by the fall of 2023, and the studio was planning to further expand its staff to 100 employees.
The team at Something Wicked is currently developing the ambitious open-world RPG title, Wyrdsong, centered around a fictional rendition of medieval Portugal. It remains unclear how these layoffs will impact the project’s progress.
Developed using the Unreal Engine 5, Wyrdsong currently doesn’t have a set release date, and its targeted platforms remain undisclosed. The game’s publishing is planned to be handled by China’s NetEase Games, who invested a total of $13.2 million into Something Wicked Games.
The founders of Something Wicked Games include Jeff Gardiner, Charles Staples, and Ekram Rashid. The studio’s roster features ex-developers from notable titles such as Skyrim, Starfield, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, and The Outer Worlds.
