Frontier Developments, a UK-based game studio famous for games such as Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Coaster, has been accused of poor management and a harsh layoff process after letting go of many employees in late 2023. These actions were taken to save money due to lower-than-expected financial results and impacted different parts of the company, especially the publishing and community management departments.
As reported by Videogame.si, Former employees said laying off staff took a long time and felt impersonal. They had to explain their absences, even when they were due to things like being in the hospital or seeking help for their mental health, by giving a lot of proof. Francesca Falcini, who used to be a senior community manager, had to show that she had been working hard during her time at the company, even though she had received the highest scores in an earlier assessment. Despite being able to keep her job, she chose to leave in disagreement with the process.
The issue with the complaint is that layoffs shouldn’t be personal and should always be based on performance—complaining that they’re impersonal is like complaining that they didn’t keep you even though you’re a friend. This avoids favoritism, which no one would want; if layoffs are coming, you definitely want the company to ensure those who worked hard and are needed keep their positions. However, explaining health reasons is a bit of a concern because of possible violations of privacy. Still, there’s no way to say anything for certain.
Reports seem to say there were very few extra benefits for those who were let go, causing many to worry about money. The problem got even worse when Frontier quickly tried to hire new people for some of the jobs that had just become empty. People still working there have said that things at the company have been really bad since the layoffs, and no one seems to care about the people who left or those who are still there.
If you’re going to lay off staff and immediately rehire, then it sounds like the company was misleading the workers, or the workers didn’t want to admit they were fired. In my time in this industry, I’ve seen plenty of writers get fired for their behavior and/or quality of work but claim they were laid off in public because the timeline matched the layoff timeline. So, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.
The layoffs are mainly attributed to the poor performance of the F1 Manager series. While the initial game sold well, the expenses involved in developing and licensing the Formula 1 brand made it hard to make a profit. Sources within Frontier claim there are issues with managing the company. These include problems with sales targets, spending on projects like the Frontier Foundry publishing label, and decision-making. Employees feel that management doesn’t understand the players and blames them for missed targets instead of taking responsibility for mistakes.
Frontier Developments has admitted to making some management mistakes in its official statements, but it denies holding employees responsible for the lower-than-expected sales. It claims that the games in the F1 Manager series have been well-received by critics. The company emphasizes the valuable contributions of its staff.
The bottom line is there’s no right way to lay off or fire anyone. There are laws stating what people get, and if the company followed those laws, then the issue many should have is with the law, not the company. The fact that so many studios can just mass lay off staff is a pretty big issue that can only be solved when lawmakers are involved. At this point, there should be some restrictions on how often this can happen.
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