Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs lays off employees and cancels in-development projects, says it's 'the last resort to ensure Phoenix Labs can survive'

Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs is laying off "many" employees and cancelling in-development projects as part of a major restructuring plan aimed at creating "a path for a strong future," according to its leadership.

"We are reorganizing Phoenix Labs to focus on our best-in-class live service titles, Dauntless and Fae Farm, and serving their communities," the studio said in a message posted to LinkedIn. "This unfortunately means cancelling work on all other projects at the studio, which will impact many of our colleagues immediately. We are giving notices to everyone whose roles are affected.

"This restructure has not come easily, and truly has been the last resort to ensure Phoenix Labs can survive, and thrive in the long term."

Dauntless made a good first impression: When we got our hands on it in 2017, we called it "the PC Monster Hunter game we've all been waiting for." But it ran into a problem not long after, when the actual Monster Hunter: World was announced for PC. Dauntless has a lot to offer, but senior editor Wes Fenlon opined in 2019 that "Monster Hunter: World is simply the deeper, bigger, richer game." It's on Steam, too, while Dauntless on PC remains exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

Fae Farm, which launched in 2023, is on Steam, but its player numbers are anemic: We liked it a lot, but after achieving an average concurrent player count of just over 2,000 through its first month of release on Steam it hasn't surpassed an average of 200 concurrent players since January 2024.

Today is an incredibly difficult day. After a long period of evaluating how to navigate our economic environment, we have had to significantly restructure the company to pave a path for a strong future. We are reorganizing Phoenix Labs to focus on our best-in-class live service titles, Dauntless and Fae Farm, and serving their communities. This unfortunately means cancelling work on all other projects at the studio, which will impact many of our colleagues immediately. We are giving notices to everyone whose roles are affected. This restructure has not come easily, and truly has been the last resort to ensure Phoenix Labs can survive, and thrive in the long term. It's impossible to put into words how deeply we value every talented individual who has contributed their hard work and passion to every project at our studio. We are doing all we can to help our departing team members in this interim period and encourage any studios looking for incredible talent to speak with the one-of-a-kind people that have been a part of Phoenix Labs' journey. — (Image credit: Phoenix Labs (LinkedIn))

Phoenix Labs principal engineer Kris Morness said on LinkedIn that Phoenix Labs was acquired by blockchain company Forte in 2023, and that the decision to restructure came from Forte: "Forte just cancelled all projects in development including the game we were announcing in one month."

Former UX lead Noah Watkins, one of the employees being laid off, echoed that statement, writing, "The most frustrating part is how close we were to announcing our new game that many have spent 5+ years on."

It's not currently known how many employees are being let go, but Morness said the number is "over 200." I've reached out to Phoenix Labs and Forte for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.