“Today is another difficult day at Phoenix Labs,” says the announcement. “We have made the tough decision to part ways with the majority of the studio as part of unfortunate but necessary changes to our operations.”

“We recognize and deeply appreciate the contributions of every individual impacted. Their talent, dedication, and creativity have left an indelible mark on our company and our games.”

The studio hasn’t revealed details on exactly how many of its employees were let go, nor has it announced future plans for Dauntless or Fae Farm. Its statement did mention that more details about the two titles will be announced in the coming weeks, however.

“To our industry peers, we encourage you to reach out to these exceptional individuals – they are some of the best in the business,” wrote the studio.

The move has followed a similar round of layoffs back in May 2024, where the studio also cancelled several unannounced projects that were being developed at the time. The decision was made back then for Phoenix Labs to focus more on live service titles. At the time, reports indicated that more than 100 developers would be part of the layoffs.

The move follows a massive drop in the player base for Dauntless, which essentially scrapped its entire original design philosophy of trying to be a new take on the Monster Hunter genre. Changes made to the title brought it more in line with an action RPG where monsters wouldn’t be the big bosses that the title was originally well-regarded for.

The changes made to Dauntless were described by Phoenix Labs as being part of an attempt to create a “strong foundation” on which continuous development would take place as part of a new seasonal content model. Since this update, however, player feedback has been incredibly negative. For context, at the time of writing, Dauntless sits at a review aggregate of Mostly Negative for recent reviews, and Overwhelmingly Negative for all reviews.

Fae Farm, in contrast, seems to have avoided the studio’s live service ambitions, with its player base still enjoying the title. On Steam, this amounts to Very Positive ratings, both for recent reviews and all reviews.

“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

“After a rigorous review, we decided to change the structure of our support teams, and we have made the tough decision to reduce our workforce by 34 people across our publishing, HR, IT, and shared services teams. Our games teams were unaffected, and our work continues across our titles at Phoenix Labs. Fae Farm’s DLC and Dauntless updates are on track, and we have exciting unannounced projects in the works.

“We thank each of the affected team members who have helped to build Phoenix Labs into what it is today. Their impact will be missed and live on through everything the studio does moving forward.” Previous layoffs resulted in nine percent of the total workforce cut in May. Three of its co-founders also departed after the studio was acquired by Garena in January 2020.

Dauntless is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Nintendo Switch. It’s a free-to-play Monster Hunter-style action RPG with over 25 million players as of 2021. Along with supporting its flagship title, Phoenix Labs also released Fae Farm, a four-player co-op fantasy farming sim with spells.

It will receive its first major update and DLC, Coasts of Croakia, on December 14th. This adds a new realm, encounters and other content. Stay tuned for more details en route to its release.

Digital sales are coming later, but physical sales are out-performing Hogwarts Legacy and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The popularity of its Premium Upgrade has dropped, with sales falling by 71 percent, bringing it from seventh to 34th place. It makes sense, given that consumers can now purchase the full game.

Hogwarts Legacy sales are up by four percent week-on-week thanks to a discount promotion, bringing it to second place. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is in third, but sales were down 24 percent week-on-week. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is in a rare sixth place due to sales dropping by 23 percent.

As for new titles, NBA 2K24 debuted at seventh while Fae Farm arrived in ninth. 505 Games’ Crime Boss: Rockay City ranked out of the top ten at 22nd place. Check out the full Gfk top ten for the week ending September 9th below.