Wyrdsong dev Something Wicked reportedly lays off majority of staff

Mass layoffs have allegedly taken place at Something Wicked Games. Over the weekend, senior animator Eric Webb claimed the studio laid off "most of [our] staff."

Programmer Andrew Woloszyn and writer Jessica Sliwinski confirmed they were among those affected. "Even though it was short, I was lucky to work with such extremely talented people," wrote the former.

Layoffs are damaging for all studios, but it's particularly hard on newer developers. Many close down before they can get their debut title out the door.

Without a project to show for it, that staff is unable to add whatever they worked on to their portfolio, to say nothing of the cost of relocating fairly recently.

Something Wicked's brief history

Something Wicked was founded in mid-2022 by Jeff Gardiner, Charles Staples and Ekram Rashid. All three previously worked on Bethesda titles such as Elder Scrolls Blades, Starfield, and Fallout 76.

Late last year, it added another Bethesda alum to its ranks in Will Shen. Shen joined as a lead content designer over a month after Starfield had released.

At the time of its announcement, Something Wicked was a 12-person team at work on the RPG Wyrdsong. It's presently unclear what the layoffs mean for that project.

Following the studio's reveal, Game Developer talked with Gardiner about building his own studio and his responsibility to his team, which can be read here.

Game Developer has reached out to Something Wicked and will update when a response is given.