Regarding the former, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski said that Square Enix had not presented a “draft of the subsequent content rider to the Publishing Agreement covering the terms and conditions of further milestones on Project Gemini and the lack of communication from the Publisher as to its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini project.”

This affected Project Bifrost in turn, though Wojciechowski notes the Group’s cash flow showed “a lack of prospects for securing organizational resources and funds necessary to continue the production and release of this project.” People Can Fly must thus “significantly regroup as a studio and scale down our teams.”

“We wish to express our deepest regret and sadness over how these events have unfolded and our sincere gratitude for everyone’s contribution up to this point,” said Wojciechowski. The studio previously worked with Square Enix on Outriders, a sci-fi third-person looter shooter for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

The publisher announced over 3.5 million players less than two months after launch, calling it the “company’s next major franchise.” However, People Can Fly revealed that it failed to turn a profit roughly a year later, resulting in no royalties earned.

People Can Fly still has other projects in the works, including Gears of War: E-Day alongside The Coalition and an unannounced title for Sony based on a PlayStation IP.

The layoffs reportedly come as a result of the “shrinking scope” and budget limitations of the unannounced game – internally called Project Gemini – that People Can Fly is developing for Square Enix, who also published Outriders. Allegedly, due to its limited budget, the game is set to have a shorter campaign and fewer enemy types than Outriders.

On top of the 30+ cut jobs, People Can Fly has also taken around 20 staff off Project Gemini and moved them to other projects. It’s unknown how this will affect Project Gemini’s development and its planned launch timeline.

People Can Fly development director Adam Alker wrote in an internal email sent out to staff, “We understand that this decision impacts each of you, and we want to express our gratitude for your hard work, dedication, and contributions thus far. To those individuals transitioning out of the studio due to these changes, we extend our sincere appreciation for the skills and expertise you brought to the team. We will keep our fingers crossed for your next steps in game dev and offer all our support.”

People Can Fly currently has a number of other projects in the works, including Project Maverick, a new game based on an existing Xbox IP; a new self-published action-adventure IP; and a new VR IP. Reports have also claimed that the developer is working on a sci-fi third-person shooter RPG for Sony.