More Than 70 People Are Leaving Supermassive Games After a Consultation for Up to 75 Roles

More than 70 people are leaving Supermassive Games, the studio behind Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology, and the departures span developers, artists, producers, QA, operations and more. The exits were made public on October 5 by the studio's IT and facilities director, who lost his own job in the same round. Posts from former staff indicate the layoffs have now been completed, closing a redundancy consultation the studio opened in August, which it expected to end in the loss of up to 75 of its colleagues. For Metaintro readers, the useful questions are what UK law entitles these workers to, how far the studio has shrunk, and where game developers in England can look next. The studio itself has not publicly commented on the cuts since the consultation began, so the figure here comes from the people who left.

What Happened at Supermassive on October 5?

Frank Tindle, who joined in 2010 as the IT department, all of it, posted his farewell online on October 5. He left as IT and facilities director and a member of the senior leadership team, after 16 years with the studio. He had learned his position was at risk weeks earlier.

More than 70 people are leaving, Tindle wrote, including developers, artists, producers, QA, operations and more, and he offered to make introductions for any studio that is hiring. Posts from multiple former Supermassive employees, shared via the Insider Gaming report, indicate the layoffs have now been completed and that effectively everyone who was at risk of redundancy was let go.

One staff member told Insider Gaming the cuts included developers, artists, producers, and members of the studio's senior leadership team, and Tindle himself sat on that leadership team when he left on October 5.

Any studio would be lucky to have them. If you're hiring, DM me and I'll make the introduction, Frank Tindle wrote of his departing colleagues, according to the Eurogamer report.

What Did the Studio Say When It Opened the Consultation?

The consultation began with a short statement posted as an image on social media on August 11, 2026.

• The decision. The studio had made the difficult decision to begin a redundancy consultation process.
• The scale. It anticipated the process would result in the loss of up to 75 of its colleagues.
• The reason. It called the move a necessary step to help ensure the sustainability of the company.

There was no list of teams, no site breakdown and no timetable in the full statement. It was also posted three months after Directive 8020 hit shelves in May 2026. The more than 70 departures Tindle described compare with a ceiling of up to 75, and the studio has not publicly commented on any final count.

We know this will be an incredibly difficult time for everyone, and our priority throughout the process will be to provide support to all those impacted, Supermassive said in its August statement, according to the Game Informer report.

What Does UK Law Require Before a Cut of This Size?

Employers must follow collective consultation rules when making 20 or more employees redundant within any 90-day period at a single establishment, and the employer has to notify the Redundancy Payments Service by submitting form HR1 before consultation starts.

For a proposal of 20 to 99 redundancies, the minimum consultation period before any dismissal is 30 days, and HR1 notice is due 30 days before the first redundancy. Consultation does not have to end in agreement, but it must be carried out with a view to reaching it, including ways of avoiding or reducing the redundancies.

Employers must also provide written details of the reasons for redundancies, the numbers and categories of employees involved, the numbers of employees in each category, how they plan to select employees for redundancy, how they will carry out redundancies and how they will work out redundancy payments.

Consultation runs through a trade union rep, or an elected employee rep where staff are not represented by a trade union or the employer does not recognise it, and affected staff can stand for election or vote for other reps. Where there are no representatives, employers consult with staff directly. Collective consultation must cover ways to avoid redundancies, the reasons for redundancies, how to keep the number of dismissals to a minimum and how to limit the effects, for example by offering retraining. Selection must be fair, for example because of your level of experience or capability to do the job, and nobody can be picked because of age, gender, disability or pregnancy.

What Are Departing Supermassive Staff Owed?

Employees are normally entitled to statutory redundancy pay after 2 years or more with their current employer, with some exceptions. The formula rises with age.

• Under 22. Half a week's pay for each full year you were under 22.
• Aged 22 to 40. One week's pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41.
• Aged 41 and over. One and a half week's pay for each full year you were 41 or older.

Length of service is capped at 20 years, and weekly pay is the average over the 12 weeks before the redundancy notice. For anyone made redundant on or after 6 April 2026, weekly pay is capped at £751 and the maximum statutory redundancy pay is £22,530. Workers have 6 months from the date the job ends to apply.

Notice pay comes as well as statutory redundancy pay. The statutory minimum is at least one week's notice if employed between one month and 2 years, one week's notice for each year if employed between 2 and 12 years, and 12 weeks' notice for 12 years or more. If payment in lieu of notice is in the contract, the employer can end the job without notice and pay all of the basic pay you would have received during the notice period, and you may get extras such as pension contributions or private health insurance if they are in your contract. Those are floors, and an employer may give you more than the statutory minimum.

How Much Smaller Has Supermassive Become?

Over his time there, the studio grew from a handful of staff to more than 400 people, he wrote.

• April 2024. The studio went through a restructuring in which it lost 81 roles through redundancy.
• April 2025. It had 213 people in the studio on the snapshot date of 5 April 2025, which is 109 fewer than April 2024, and its headcount had dropped below 250.
• July 2025. The studio laid off 36 employees in July 2025 and delayed Directive 8020.
• October 2026. More than 70 people left in the latest round.

The studio said it had hired eight people since the April 2024 restructuring in its gender pay gap report for 2024 to 2025. With the August consultation, the studio began its third round of layoffs in three years.

Both of the studio's office addresses are in Guildford, Surrey. The studio has been fully owned by Nordisk Games, part of the Egmont Group, since 2022.

What Happened to Directive 8020 Before the Cuts?

Directive 8020, a space horror game in the Dark Pictures series, came out on May 12th 2026. It had been slated for the previous October, and the July 2025 statement delayed it into 2026 alongside 36 layoffs.

In August, the game sat at 72 on Metacritic, next to 71 for Little Nightmares 3 and 68 for The Casting of Frank Stone. Online multiplayer is due to be patched in sometime in October, nearly five months after the game had launched.

Until Dawn, the studio's best-known horror release, is a Sony franchise, and its 2027 sequel is being made by the PlayStation studio Firesprite, not by Supermassive. In its August statement, the studio gave sustainability as its only reason for the cuts, calling the consultation a necessary step to help ensure the sustainability of the company, and it named no game as a cause.

Is Supermassive Hiring After the Cuts?

Not in any advertised role. On Supermassive's current careers page, the only opening is a permanent speculative application, and anyone who cannot see a fitting role can submit one or email the recruitment team at jobs@supermassivegames.com.

Staff benefits include 25 days annual leave, private health insurance, and pension, life assurance and income protection, and the studio describes its approach as big games with small teams.

A speculative application is not tied to any vacancy posted on the careers page, so keep applying to other studios at the same time.

Where Else Are Game Studios Cutting?

Supermassive is not the only UK studio cutting staff. At Ninja Theory, maker of Hellblade, a developer posted online that their role is at risk of redundancy after 12 years with the studio, and a performance capture technician and a gameplay programmer posted similar farewells. Xbox set out 3200 job cuts across the division during its reset, with Ninja Theory named as a studio to be spun off. Attempts to find buyers for it have fallen through, and Xbox is moving toward a closure instead.

Like Supermassive, Ninja Theory is based in the UK, where a legally-mandated consultation period is required ahead of actual layoffs. At The Coalition, some developers on Gears of War: E-Day are worrying about the possibility of being laid off, multiple sources at the studio told Eurogamer.

Warhorse Studios co-founder Martin Klima predicted in September that efforts to reduce the cost of game development could lead studios to move operations to countries that are cheaper, which he told PC Gamer was maybe Central and Eastern Europe, maybe China, maybe India, maybe East Asia in general.

Where Can Laid-Off Game Developers Look Next?

The trade body Ukie represents over 2,000 games businesses supporting 73,000 jobs across the UK, and its UK Games Map lets you search games businesses by region, company type or keyword.

In England, the Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Service helps people facing redundancy write CVs and find jobs, find the right training and learn new skills, and organise work trials for those eligible. People facing redundancy may also be able to get help with costs such as travel to work expenses, childcare, tools or equipment and vocational training, and to be considered for vocational training help, you must be in your notice period. Workers can contact the service if they suspect they are going to be made redundant, during their notice period, and up to 13 weeks after being made redundant, and Scotland and Wales run separate services.

The roles named in the cuts were developers, artists, producers, QA, operations and more, and Tindle asked hiring studios to message him so he could make the introduction.

What This Means for Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

Our take is that a consultation should be treated as a real warning. Staff in consultation are technically not certain of layoff, but at Supermassive it proved about as close as you can come, PC Gamer noted. The ceiling in August was up to 75, and the figure Tindle gave in October was more than 70. If your employer opens a consultation, start your job search on day one, not on the day it ends.

Here is what we would do:

• Check your redundancy maths. Use your age, your full years of service and the £751 weekly cap to work out your statutory floor, then compare it with your contract.
• Claim on time. You have 6 months from the date your job ends to apply for statutory redundancy pay.
• Use the consultation window. Stand for election as an employee rep or vote for other reps, and ask your reps for the written details of how your employer plans to select staff, which it must provide.
• Contact Rapid Response early. You can contact it during your notice period, and some cost help, such as vocational training, depends on being in that period.
• Map studios beyond your old one. Start with the UK Games Map, keep a portfolio ready, and if you are leaving Supermassive, point hiring studios to Tindle's offer to make introductions.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many people did Supermassive Games lay off in October 2026?

A: More than 70 people are leaving, covering developers, artists, producers, QA, operations and more, after a consultation the studio expected to cost up to 75 of its colleagues. The studio has not publicly commented on the cuts since announcing the consultation.

Q: Why is Supermassive Games making staff redundant?

A: The studio called the consultation a necessary step to help ensure the sustainability of the company and gave no other reason in its statement.

Q: How much statutory redundancy pay can a games worker in England get?

A: Employees are normally entitled after at least two years of service, and for redundancies on or after 6 April 2026, weekly pay is capped at £751 and the maximum is £22,530.

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