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Phoenix Labs, the Vancouver-based video game studio renowned for titles such as Dauntless and Fae Farm, has announced a substantial reduction in its workforce. In a statement shared on the company’s official LinkedIn page on Monday, Phoenix Labs confirmed that a majority of its employees would be impacted by the layoffs.
The decision appears to arise from the subpar performance of Awakening, the most recent expansion for its premier title, Dauntless. The redundancies were initially reported by the Game Developer, signifying a substantial transformation for the studio, which has been a notable entity within the gaming industry.
“We have made the tough decision to part ways with the majority of the studio as part of unfortunate but necessary changes to our operations,” the post read. The company has indicated that additional information concerning the future of Dauntless and Fae Farm will be disclosed in the upcoming weeks.
As reported by LinkedIn, Phoenix Labs has a workforce comprising approximately 90 employees. GeekWire has solicited further commentary from the corporation. The redundancies occur in the context of a significant trend of downsizings, reorganizations, and closures within the video game industry in 2025. Additional companies impacted include Ubisoft, which closed a studio located in the United Kingdom on Monday, and Highwire Games based in Seattle, which disclosed a reduction in workforce through a lesser round of cutbacks.
The reductions at Phoenix Labs seem to be associated with the subpar performance of “Awakening,” the latest expansion for its premier title, “Dauntless.” Released on December 5, “Awakening” received a tepid response from players, in part due to its contentious monetization strategy. The update implemented stringent microtransactions and reset players’ prior progress, providing for sale in-game items that players had previously acquired through gameplay.
This decision incited considerable backlash from the player community, which had not previously linked Dauntless with such practices. Dauntless, a live-service video game released in 2018, invites players to engage in the pursuit of formidable creatures known as Behemoths. Participants utilize resources obtained from vanquished adversaries to forge superior equipment.
Analysts and enthusiasts have proposed a correlation between the recent developments at Phoenix Labs and its parent organization, the blockchain gaming company Forte Labs, which acquired the studio in 2023. Forte Labs has come under scrutiny regarding its involvement in operational decisions, which encompass a previous round of cutbacks conducted in May 2024, as well as the termination of a significant unnamed project.
The recent announcement by Phoenix Labs underscores the wider challenges confronting the video game industry, as studios grapple with financial pressures and the shifting dynamics of the market.
