Dark Pictures and The Quarry developer Supermassive has delayed its horror game, Directive 8020, and announced a number of layoffs.
In a statement posted to its social media accounts, the studio said the industry “remains a challenging and ever-evolving environment,” adding “as we adapt our team structure to better align with these changes, we’ve had to make the very difficult decision to begin a redundancy consultation process where we anticipate losing up to 36 of our colleagues.”
“This decision was not taken lightly, and we know this will be an incredibly difficult time for everyone,” the statement added. “Our absolute priority will be to offer full support to all those affected.”
The statement concluded with the announcement Directive 8020 has been delayed to “the first half of 2026,” and confirmed “there is no impact on the development of Little Nightmares 3.”
An estimated 4,000 developers have lost their jobs in 2025 so far, most recently multiple cuts at EA, including Respawn, People Can Fly, Jagex, and Build a Rocket Boy. Over 9,000 additional people are also thought to have been affected by cuts Microsoft has began making layoffs across its gaming division earlier this month.
