Gamasutra reports that a third of Trion Worlds' Rift team has been laid off. Around 40 individuals were notified Tuesday, making up around a third of the development team.
Trion Worlds recently launched the first expansion for Rift - Storm Legion, and perhaps it was poor sales of the expansion (which became free as part of a promotion to get former players back into Telara one month after release) that forced the publisher to act.