More than 70 employees are leaving Supermassive Games following the redundancy consultation announced by the Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures developer in August. The scale of the cuts was disclosed by departing IT and Facilities Director Frank Tindle, who said developers, artists, producers, QA staff, operations workers and others are among those affected. Supermassive itself has not yet issued a new public statement confirming the final number of redundancies.
Tindle announced his departure on October 5 after 16 years at Supermassive, where he had become a member of the studio’s senior leadership team. He said he originally joined in 2010 as effectively the company’s entire IT department and watched the developer expand from a small operation to more than 400 people. In his farewell message, Tindle said that more than 70 employees were leaving alongside him and encouraged studios currently hiring to contact him so he could connect them with affected workers.
The departures follow a formal redundancy consultation Supermassive announced on August 11. At the time, the studio said it expected the process to result in the loss of up to 75 positions and described the move as necessary to help ensure the company’s long-term sustainability. The latest accounts from departing employees indicate that the final number has landed close to the maximum figure initially proposed.
The reductions affect a broad range of disciplines rather than being confined to one project or support department. Tindle specifically identified developers, artists, producers, quality assurance and operations among the groups losing staff, while reporting from Insider Gaming also indicates that members of senior leadership have been affected. That breadth makes the restructuring a substantial reduction for a studio whose projects depend heavily on large cinematic production teams.
The layoffs come less than six months after Supermassive released Directive 8020, the latest entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 12. The science-fiction horror game continued the studio’s branching narrative format, with choices influencing character relationships and survival outcomes. Supermassive has also been preparing an online multiplayer update for the game, meaning post-launch development is continuing even as the company reduces its workforce.
Supermassive is best known for 2015’s Until Dawn, which established the studio’s modern reputation for cinematic horror built around player decisions. Its subsequent projects have included The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Quarry and work on Little Nightmares III. The latest restructuring therefore affects a developer with a relatively consistent release schedule but one that, like many studios, has been operating through a prolonged period of contraction across the games business.
The studio is not alone in carrying out substantial workforce reductions during 2026. Other recent cuts have included Heart Machine losing most of its workforce after an unannounced project lost publisher funding, while Microsoft’s gaming division has also undergone another round of restructuring that included 268 additional Xbox job cuts. Those cases differ in their circumstances, but together they underline how widespread staffing reductions remain across studios of very different sizes.
Supermassive has itself already gone through previous rounds of layoffs. Around 90 roles were reportedly affected during restructuring in 2024, followed by another round in 2025. The August 2026 consultation therefore marked another significant workforce reduction rather than an isolated event, adding to the pressure on a studio that once employed more than 400 people.
For the employees affected this time, the consultation period has now moved from a proposed restructuring to confirmed departures. Tindle’s statement provides the clearest indication yet of the final scale, putting the number at more than 70 people and showing that the losses extend from production teams to studio operations and leadership. Until Supermassive publishes its own follow-up statement, the precise final headcount and any resulting changes to its development slate remain unclear.
