The video games industry is currently rife with studios being forced to make the difficult decision to let go of their staff. The most recent studios to announce a round of lay offs is Surgeon Simulator developer Bossa Studios, which has had to let go a third of its staff.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, it's believed that 19 people have been made redundant and these are "mostly in QA and production roles, as well as non-UK employees." The studio reportedly continues to employ 40 staff.
In a statement, Bossa co-founder Henrique Olifiers said: "Resulting from this blue moon situation, we had to make the difficult decision to reshape the studio to reflect the position we find ourselves in at the end of this year, focusing all our efforts now on Lost Skies."This means we find ourselves in the heartbreaking position of having to let roughly one third of the studio go - amongst them, some of our closest colleagues.
"While we are doing our utmost to support them, we would appreciate any help our industry peers can give in spreading the word about these great people - or even better, hiring them as part of your team. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better game development professional than one of these Bossians, whom we'll vouch for without hesitation.
"We often say that making games is hard, but nothing is harder than seeing people you admire being let go," Olifiers added. "Ultimately, we tried our very best to avoid being in this position, and we're truly sorry for where we have landed."
Established in 2010, British developer Bossa Studios has worked on titles such as I Am Bread, Surgeon Simulator, and I Am Fish. The remaining staff at the studio are currently working on a title called Lost Skies, a cooperative survival game for 1-6 players. You can find out more about Lost Skies on the studio's official website here.