Ascendant Studios has reportedly been hit with another major blow. The studio, which released its debut title Immortals of Aveum last year, seems to have furloughed the “majority” of its staff, which means they have been placed on indefinite leave without pay, but continue to be employed by the company on paper.
The same was shared by Kris Morness on LinkedIn, who was Principal Engineer at Ascendant Studios for nearly a year, before leaving the company and joining Phoenix Labs. As per Morness, around 30 people have been impacted by the furlough.
“Ascendant Studios has furloughed the majority of their staff,” Morness wrote. “I can’t imagine what that would be like as that is worse than getting laid off. It would be good to get eyes on people there looking for work. Stuff like this shouldn’t fly under the radar. Not sure what the numbers are like, but I’m probably guessing around 30 folks.”
Though Ascendant Studios has yet to officially confirm the same, Polygon reported Nicole Carpenter corroborated Morness’ statement, writing on Twitter, “This lines up with what I’ve heard at Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant studios- that a large portion of the staff was recently furloughed. Haven’t been able to confirm numbers, and Ascendant hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment.”
Reportedly developed on budget of $125 million, when Immortals of Aveum launched last year, it was met with relatively lukewarm reception and disappointing sales, the latter of which was attributed to packed release schedule in 2023 by Ascendant Studios CEO Bret Robbins. Shortly afterward, the developer announced that it had laid off roughly 45 percent of its staff.
Immortals of Aveum is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Read our review of the game through here.