VR developer Schell Games has announced a second round of layoffs this year.
“We’re very sad to say that due to this challenging time in the game industry, Schell Games has found it necessary to lay off a significant number of employees in order to ensure a sustainable future for our studio,” it said in a statement on LinkedIn.
“While this will enable us to stay stable moving forward, it is incredibly painful as we are losing some fantastic talent.”
Schell Games did not disclose the number of employees impacted. Affected roles include engineering, art and design, sound, marketing, IT support, research, and QA.
The Pittsburgh-based developer is known for its VR puzzle franchise I Expect You To Die and for co-developing the VR adaptation of Among Us. The studio also develops educational VR experiences.
Schell Games previously conducted layoffs in August, marking the first time the company had to reduce staff since its founding in 2002.
The company’s CEO Jesse Schell has advocated for avoiding layoffs, having told GamesIndustry.biz in 2024 that the key to doing so is to “prioritise stability.”
“It’s business. There are no guarantees. But it comes down to what you prioritise. If you prioritise stability, you can stay pretty stable, but you’ve got to give it a lot of time and thought and attention.”
He added: “Layoffs are like an avalanche. If a company needs to do a layoff, it’s a smart idea to do it when everybody else is doing it. Then it’s like, Well, it’s not us. That’s just the economy right now. So if we’re going to do it, we should do it now because then it’s not going to make us look like something’s wrong with us. It’s going to make us look normal. So that’s what we’re going through right now. Hopefully, everything’s going to normalise pretty soon.”
