Palia Dev Confirms Layoffs Following Game's Steam Launch

American studio Singularity 6, the developer behind the cozy MMO game Palia, has reduced its workforce. The news comes as the studio released the game on Steam on 25th March 2024, which coincided with the current v0.178 patch update.

The studio, based in Los Angeles, California, was founded in 2018 by Anthony Leung and Aidan Karabaich, former executives at Riot Games. The team comprises industry veterans and talented artists, designers, and engineers who've previously worked at notable AAA studios, including Blizzard, Epic Games, and Riot Games.

Singularity 6 is the latest studio to be impacted by industry-wide layoffs, as they supplied a statement shared by Polygon Senior Reporter Nicole Carpenter. The statement revealed that the decision came as the studio "evaluated the support needed to deliver the highest-quality gameplay service for long-term stability."

We made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce, which impacted around 35 percent of our talented and hardworking team members. We value their contributions and are committed to supporting them throughout this process, including severance, work-placement and career guidance assistance, and retainment of all company-provided development equipment.

The studio noted that "this decision was not made lightly" following "consideration of our development and business needs to support Palia and its community." Since its Open Beta release in August 2023, the studio confirmed that the cozy MMO had reached over 3 million players before its Steam release in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

The studio's Director of Business Strategy, Yu Sian Tan, said the game's success was largely attributed to attracting players and its Nintendo Switch release in December 2023. Prior to the Palia's Open Beta launch, the studio had raised over $30 million in funding, which was used to support the game's development and subsequent release.