Restructuring at Robot Entertainment

Announced earlier this week on the Robot Entertainment blog, there is unfortunate news to share about the studio. Following studio growth in the ramp up to launch Orcs Must Die! Unchained and the recent launch of Hero Academy 2, the studio has been hard at work on two new original IP games. Recently the decision has been made that the studio needs to focus its efforts on shipping just one game and as a result, regretfully the studio has had to let go numerous staff to suit the economies of scale to deliver one game rather than two.

Over 30 staff are affected by this news across all disciples of the production process including art, design, infrastructure, marketing, programming, and others. This is a large number of staff which is no doubt very upsetting for all. Robot Entertainment as a mid-size developer has grown from its inception and as well as shipping multiple award winning games, it has been home to a number of long-standing developers, many of whom calling back to the days of Ensemble Studios. It goes without saying a mid-size developer is about friendship and values with many colleagues having worked together for 10 to 15 years or more.

We would like to express our heartfelt sympathies to all those affected by this transition. With a great track record of games shipped we know that Robot is full of many talented people all of whom whose skills will no doubt be valuable to many companies. Lay-offs are a dark side of the nature of the gaming industry, but many companies band together to help their industry colleagues and I am sure many companies will be reaching out to Robot Entertainment talent. The studio is also supporting staff in these transitions. Unfortunately there are many challenges for a studio like Robot to manage a number of in-flight, full production projects at once.

Lay-offs are never a good thing and we know that everything possible would have been done to avoid this scenario. Robot’s mid-sized position makes things very difficult, especially in the earlier production phases of new IP.

Continuing onwards

The studio however is pressing on with this so far unannounced upcoming new game. Although a smaller team now, the studios ambition to make great games continues. Hero Academy 2 and Orcs Must Die! Unchained will continue to operate, the servers are not going anywhere. Hero Academy 2 will also be receiving updates and patches, having just recently received the Ketsali faction update.

While there is no news about the upcoming new game yet, keep your eyes peeled for news in the coming months.