League of Geeks announces mass layoffs and halts Jumplight Odyssey development - will distribute 50% of early access profits to employees until work resumes

But only for a maximum of 12 months

News By Catherine Lewis published 6 December 2023

League of Geeks, the development studio currently working on space strategy sim game Jumplight Odyssey and turn-based political strategy game Solium Infernum, has announced cuts to over 50% of its workforce. That includes the entire Jumplight Odyssey team, putting the early-access game’s development on hold indefinitely. 

The news was announced in a statement posted to Twitter / X by League of Geeks co-founders and directors, Trent Kusters, Blake Mizzi, and Ty Carey. “Rapidly rising operation costs,” as well as “a weakening AUD, poor early access sales, and the unprecedented withdrawal of funding opportunities across the industry” were blamed for putting the studio “in a position where we could no longer afford to cover development costs.”

They added: “We are devastated to be in this position, and we have done everything in our power to avoid it. We are so very sorry.” 

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Furthermore, in an update posted on the Jumplight Odyssey Steam page, Kusters described the process of “saying goodbye to many of our closest friends” as “traumatic.” He clarified that the team doesn’t want this to be the end of the game: “If investment in the project becomes a reality, and the conditions exist where it is financially possible for us to boot this game back up, we absolutely will. The grim reality however, is that at least for right now, it’s a very scary time (economically) for indie developers of our size.”

It was also confirmed that in an effort to “give back” to the team who worked on Jumplight Odyssey, “for the next 12 months or until development is resumed, whichever comes first, half of our profit from every copy sold will be distributed to our team (including those whose employment was impacted).”

As for the studio’s other ongoing project, Solium Infernum, the already-announced February 14, 2024 launch date apparently won’t be affected by the layoffs. The same goes for the ongoing support of League of Geeks’ fairytale board game Armello. 

Looking for some new game recommendations? You can find some fantastic pics from smaller developers in our roundups of the best indie games, as well as the best indie horror games.

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