Dauntless, Fae Farms Studio Announces Cancellation of all Unannounced Projects, Layoffs Reported

Developer Phoenix Labs has announced that it is cancelling development on all titles at the studio aside from Dauntless and Fae Farm. The studio took to LinkedIn to make the announcement, where it revealed that it is being reorganised to focus more on its live service titles.

“This unfortunately means canceling work on all other projects at the studio, which will impact many of our colleagues immediately,” said the studio in its announcement. “We are giving notices to everyone whose roles are affected.”

While this means that there will be some layoffs at Phoenix Labs, the studio itself hasn’t confirmed how many developers it is letting go. According to Polygon’s Nicole Carpenter, more than 100 developers will be part of the layoffs because of this restructuring. The studio had been working on a multiplayer shooter since at least 2022, among other unannounced titles.

The biggest title released by Phoenix Labs so far has been Dauntless, which was developed out of a desire for a Monster Hunter-styled title on multiple platforms. This predates the release of Capcom’s Monster Hunter World, however.

Since then the game has seen updates, with new creatures as well as equipment for players to chase. Back in 2019, it was announced that Dauntless had more than 5 million players.

Major layoffs at Fae Farm, Dauntless dev Phoenix Labs today. Two sources said over 100 people have been impacted. On LinkedIn, a former worker said all in development games have been cancelled, including one about to be announced. Devastating news — so sorry to those impacted. pic.twitter.com/H4LLH6jY3C

— Nicole Carpenter (@sweetpotatoes) May 16, 2024