Firefall developer Red 5 lays off 10% of staff

Oh dear, Firefall. In the same week it announced plans to pull the shooter MMO's PvP side to "completely rethink" it, developer Red 5 Studios has confirmed layoffs. Around 10% of employees were hit, though Red 5 won't give an actual number, mostly from its curious video production team Stage 5 TV.

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Oh dear, Firefall. In the same week it announced plans to pull the shooter MMO's PvP side to "completely rethink" it, developer Red 5 Studios has confirmed layoffs. Around 10% of employees were hit--Red 5 hasn't given an actual number--mostly from its curious video production team Stage 5 TV.

"As Firefall matures, we must transition our priorities and our development strategy to focus on streamlined operations and live product support," CEO Mark Kern explained in a statement.

Stage 5 TV chiefly focused on Firefall, but also made general 'video game culture' videos. Yes, that was an odd thing for a developer to do. As Red 5 is also ditching it's ill-fated attempts to curry favour with the PvP eSports crowd, it seems the developer is now focusing simply on what people really want from the company: a PvE MMORPG.

Chinese online game developer and operator The9 owns a majority stake in Red 5.

Community manager Matt DeWald added, "The majority of those leaving came from our Stage 5 TV crew with a few from the production team. In total, it was a small amount, but no amount of layoffs is ever a desired outcome ... This is never an easy time for a company or those affected by these circumstances. Thank you for understanding our reluctance to go into more details regarding this decision."

Firefall is still in open beta. Sign up over on the official website if you fancy a go.

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  • reply
    September 18, 2013 4:00 PM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Firefall developer Red 5 lays off 10% of staff.

    Oh dear, Firefall. In the same week it announced plans to pull the shooter MMO's PvP side to "completely rethink" it, developer Red 5 Studios has confirmed layoffs. Around 10% of employees were hit, though Red 5 won't give an actual number, mostly from its curious video production team Stage 5 TV.

    • reply
      September 18, 2013 5:36 PM

      Its a fun game in a lot of ways

    • reply
      September 18, 2013 6:01 PM

      The PVP was the best part of it, at least insofar as my experience went.

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