Metal: Hellsinger developer The Outsiders is shutting down by its parent company, Funcom. Despite Funcom having massive success with the release of Dune: Awakening, and it becoming the “biggest release” in the company’s history. Despite this, Funcom is laying off staff, which sadly includes the entire Outsiders team.
Layoffs At Funcom
Recently, The Outsiders founder and creative director, David Goldfarb, shared the news on Bluesky. Sadly, this news details that the decade-old studio will be closing its doors. Funcom didn’t delve into details about how many people will be cut, but we do know that one internal studio is being shut down.
The Outsiders studio is also credited with working on Dune: Awakening, which makes this all the more surprising, given that they are a part of one of the company’s biggest releases, along with their catalog of successes, including amazing Metal: Hellsinger. However, perhaps not all hope is lost, as Goldfarb said in their post:
“I have not had much time to process the news, but all of us at The Outsiders and Funcom Stockholm have been affected by the layoffs at Funcom, and our 10-year-old studio will be closing,”.
“Many of us had survived a near-death studio experience years back when Darkborn was cancelled, and because of the team’s loyalty and refusal to quit, Metal: Hellsinger was born. It will always be a high point for me personally, and I will be forever grateful we got to make it and for the wonderful team and partnerships that made it happen.”
The Future of The Outsiders
Unfortunately, layoffs are becoming increasingly common in the gaming industry as the years pass. From the massive layoffs at Xbox to other studios, such as Romero Games, which are also looking for companies to pick up their projects. Thankfully, according to Goldfarb, the team will attempt to continue making games “in some form.”
However, at the time of writing, we don’t know any further details about what this could mean, nor do we know any other extensive mentions of the layoffs at Funcom. Hopefully, things work out in the end so The Outsiders can continue pursuing whatever passion projects they have cooking up.
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