Fallen London studio says its latest game 'didn't sell particularly well', but don't worry—it's been sensible enough with its cash to avoid layoffs: 'We've had better years, but also much worse'

An NPC from Mask of the Rose regards the player with a coy smile.

2023—and, unfortunately, 2024—have been dire years for industry layoffs, carrying a number so staggering and routine that you need to put the 16,000-person (and rising) loss of working talent on a chart to get a proper perspective on it.

Some would blame this all on the aftershocks of a post-Covid tech bubble's burst, but it's hard not to point at reckless over-hiring practices too—or, as Dwarf Fortress' creator Tarn Adams passionately put it earlier this week, decisions "driven by greedy, greedy people trying to make some kind of venture capital thing work out."