Lost Records: Bloom & Rage developer Don’t Nod has become the latest studio to be hit by a wave of layoffs, if a spate of social media posts from now-former employees are anything to go by.
As spotted by journalist Adnan Riaz (and collated by ResetEra user Maxime), several employees of Don’t Nod Montreal, which developed Lost Records: Bloom & Rage as its first project, appear to have lost their jobs, including technical artist Laurent Dufresne and cinematic artist Mary Pouliot.
It’s not clear how many Don’t Nod Montreal employees have lost their jobs; Riaz spotted at least three, and it’s possible more have been laid off without posting about it on social media.
According to Dufresne, the layoff numbers are “non-insignificant”, and the team is “relatively small”, so it’s safe to assume that more than just the three people spotted by Riaz have lost their jobs, unfortunately.
This wave of layoffs appears to be separate to the wave that hit the studio’s Paris office late last year, in which around 70 employees’ jobs appeared to be at risk. As a reminder, the Paris location is Don’t Nod’s main studio; it’s responsible for games like Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and the upcoming Aphelion.
Don’t Nod Montreal’s layoffs come after a difficult time for the company. In September last year, the studio admitted two of its major 2024 releases, namely the aforementioned Banishers and climbing game Jusant, had underperformed, leading to an 11% drop in revenue compared to the prior year.
In April this year, however, Don’t Nod revealed another revenue dip, but at the time, the company also said that sales of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage were “in line with forecasts”, although the studio stopped short of revealing just how many copies Lost Records had sold at that point.
It’s unclear what the future holds for Don’t Nod Montreal, but for now, if you want to check out Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, you can do so on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Our very own Tyler also reviewed both parts of the game; you can find his Tape 1 review right here, and his Tape 2 review here.
