Tales of Kenzera: Zau studio impacted by layoffs

Several members of Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios have been laid off.

As spotted by Game Developera number of former studio employees are now looking for work. Level designer Peter Brisbourne wrote on LinkedIn: “The chapter entitled ‘Pete Works At Surgent Studios’ is coming to a close at the end of the month”, adding that he is available for work.

Surgent technical artist Jordan Smee shared a similar post on LinkedIn. “Well, it looks like I’m joining all the people affected by industry layoffs this year,” Smee wrote. Additionally, a Surgent Studios producer will be joining the name of Raysura Bluesky has also “officially been laid off” over the last couple of days. “Shit sucks,” Raysura said.

“I’m another casualty of the wild west industry that is video game development,” added game producer Phillip Smy on LinkedIn. Eurogamer has asked Surgent Studios for comment.

Word of these layoffs comes less than three months after the studio’s debut game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, released to much praise.

“What Tales of Kenzera lacks in creative game design makes for vital, passionate storytelling,” reads Eurogamer’s four star Tales of Kenzera: Zau review.

Today’s news is just the latest in a long line of studio shutdowns and redundancies in recent months. By the end of May 2024 – or not even halfway through the year – more than 10,000 people had been laid off from their jobs this year across the industry.

Others impacted this year include the likes of Just Cause developer Avalanche, Microsoft, Sony and Square Enix, and that’s barely scratching the surface.

For more on this topic, be sure to read Chris Dring’s feature: What is going on with layoffs in the video games industry?