Indie founders did what most layoff-happy executives won't, totally slashing their own salaries for months, but say they still had to cut staff
Mar. 1, 2024The studio behind Deliver Us Mars lets go of some developers
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The studio behind science fiction thriller Deliver Us The Moon and last year’s sequel Deliver Us Mars is laying off four employees, even after its co-founders gave up their salaries for the “past few months” to minimize damage.
“Sadly, we’ve had to lay off four of our core team of 19 this month,” co-founder and CEO Koen Deetman says in a social mediapost. “This was decided after [managing director Paul Deetman] and I, as management, already took significant pay cuts, even to the extent of not taking any salary at all the past few months.”
Deetman says that the founding duo are “blessed to decide, plan, or do things from the company’s top,” but are also “burdened with taking the first hit when things get tough.” They supposedly “protect the team as long as humanly possible,” which is a sentiment that’s all too rare in the games industry.
Doom’s creator John Romero said he’d never “seen anything like what we’re seeing now” in regard to the recent mass layoffs.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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