Killing Floor developer Tripwire Interactive has announced that it has suffered layoffs affecting 36 of its employees. In a social media post, the company said that “this was certainly not an easy decision, but unfortunately a necessary one for the organization.”
As for the future of Tripwire, the studio said that it is continuing its work on internal projects like Maneater 2, as well as providing ongoing support for Killing Floor 3 as part of its publishing label Tripwire Presents. “We are continuing to give the best support possible to all of our games and remain committed to our awesome community. We’re grateful to our players and partners for sticking with us.”
When it comes to the people affected by the layoffs, the studio has said that it is recognizing their contributions, and that it wants to extend its “sincere gratitude for their efforts and the impact they made here.” Going forward, Tripwire plans to continue to support those affected by layoffs.
Killing Floor 3 got a messy launch across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S last year. Since then, Tripwire Interactive has been trying to bring players back with post-launch updates attempting to address player feedback. At the time of publishing, Killing Floor 3 has an aggregate rating of Mixed on Steam, with only 55 percent of the reviews written in the last 30 days being positive.
When it comes to critical response, Killing Floor 3 sits at a Metacritic average of 68 and a user score average of 6.3. In our own review from back when it first came out, we gave Killing Floor 3 a score of 5 out of 10. While we praised the inclusion of mods that brought in some interesting changes as well as intuitive map layouts and the metal soundtrack, our biggest complaints involved the forgettable campaign, the build-crafting limits introduced by Specialists, the performance issues and bugs, among other things.
Shortly before the launch of Killing Floor 3, Tripwire Interactive had announced that it had also been working on publishing a brand-new tactical strategy game titled Norse. The game was unveiled with a trailer. Developed by indie studio Arctic Hazard, Norse uses dark age Norway as its primary setting, and its main story will revolve around the player setting off on an epic quest for revenge.
While interacting with a variety of other characters will be part of the game, players will also have to deal with creating and upgrading settlements as they continue on their journey and acquire allies. The process will involve players eventually leading an entire warband that they have to build up and train, and plenty of narrative choices will have to be made that will end up having consequences.
The core narrative of Norse is being handled by Sunday Times bestselling author Giles Kristian. In a statement, Tripwire said that publishing this game was an “incredible opportunity” that would allow the company to “bring a bold and immersive Viking experience to players.” Publishing director Bryan West went on to praise the title’s strategic depth, turn-based combat, and world-building.
