Hi-Rez, the developer of Smite 2, has evidently laid off some 50-60 employees and ceased work on three major titles, including Smite 1, Paladins, and Rogue Company.
Several now-former employees of Hi-Rez took to social media saying that they had been laid off, and the layoffs look like they impact a variety of departments from designers, QA, marketing, and social media.
An X/Twitter user posted a message presumably from Hi-Rez CEO Stewart Chisam that stated that the reduction impacted the Rally Here, Evil Mojo, and Titan Forge Games divisions. Additionally, Rogue Company, Paladins, and Smite 1 will no longer receive major updates, but the servers will remain up for the foreseeable future.
Smite 2 is currently in early access and looks to be Hi-Rez’s sole focus going forward. The aforementioned message also stated that the reductions are meant to enable a steady flow of new content for Smite 2.
Hi-Rez already went through a round of layoffs back in October. However, it’s not the first developer to conduct layoffs this week. Others include Iron Galaxy and 31st Union, and the latter’s parent company 2K reportedly fired its studio head due to the lackluster response around Project Ethos.