Wyrdsong Has Shrunk in Scope Following Layoffs, No Longer Open-World - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 17 March 2025 / 2,279 Views
Something Wicked Games laid off the majority of its staff in April 2024 as funding ran dry.
The first game from the studio, Wyrdsong, was originally planned to be a AAA open-world game, however, that has now been scaled back to have a map with zones. He cited Avowed as an example.
Studio co-founder Jeff Gardiner told PC Gamer that co-founder Charles Staples and Starfield lead quest designer Will Shen have left the company.
"We were making a big open-world RPG," said Gardiner. "The way I have learned to do them requires a lot of people to do that, which means a lot of money that was not forthcoming in the industry."
Gardiner said they are pushing forward with a "skeleton crew," but admits the future looks "very tough."
"We're down to a skeleton crew, and I am continuing to work hard to try to find further investment or publishing offers for the game," he said. "I'm hoping to sometime this year, but we're just trying to hang on to ride out the storm, which a lot of people thought was going to be over in 2025 and I do not see that reality at all currently. Right now, it's very tough."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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Ugh more layoffs... although, on the bright side, they don't seem to be happening as often as they did last year at least
The crisis of the current era is a crisis of management. From healthcare to videogames, and from academia public services, higher management is floundering through a series of incorrect assumptions, poor decisions, and non-existent leadership. There was a time when the workforce was considered a vital asset. Nowadays, the workforce is considered highly expendable, and the ethos is to maximise work time, with fewer people, while cutting down costs everywhere. Cost-cutting does not work and is not a balance. You either start with a project that a team can deliver, or not. You cannot expect to still deliver a product if you have obliterated the team, destroyed the morale, and handicapped the project.
But, as I said, this is a crisis of management. The problem is that the managers get to keep their jobs, to make the same mistakes, for the same results - while the new book of management is re-writing these experiences into managerial dogma.
