The developers of one of PlayStation’s best exclusives faces massive layoffs

Scavengers Studio, the Montreal-based developer behind Season and Darwin Project, is laying off more than half of its employees due to poor sales of its latest game.

A darling indie and one of the best PlayStation exclusives in recent years, Season appears to have sold less than 60,000 copies according to French journalist Gauthier Andrés. This was despite numerous previews and critical acclaim for Season, a game that appears to have been a huge hit with a small crowd.

In an update provided to Gamesindustry.biz, the developer shared the internal announcement sent by the studio by CEO Amélie Lamarche last week. She states, “While Season received critical acclaim, it fell short of our commercial expectations.” The statement then confirms Andrés’ initial report: “Despite our efforts to increase sales through content updates and discounts, the game only sold 60,000 copies during its first five months, which is well below what that the studio needs to survive.

“Given the current global economic context and Season’s financial results, we were left with no choice but to make the difficult decision to downsize the studio to a smaller, more sustainable group of game developers. Unfortunately, this means parting ways with all but of approximately 16 members of the Scavengers Studio team.”

This obviously sucks. Season was one of the most visually striking games when it was revealed during The Game Awards in 2020. Since then, it has released more trailers showcasing a laid-back vibe and exuberant style. It’s a shame this didn’t seem to be enough to grab the attention of a wider audience.

This comes during a brutal year of layoffs in the tech and gaming industry. This has affected not only independent studios like Scavengers, but also some of the biggest companies in the games industry, including Microsoft and Riot Games. Even EA was hit with layoffs, restructuring around the current economic crisis.

With the current state of the economy still trending down, we’re likely to see more studios facing similar tough decisions in the future. Montreal, thankfully, is a popular city for game development, so here’s hoping the Scavengers layoffs can get back on their feet.