Greedfall developer Spiders has laid off most of the animation team, according to Lead Animator Erwan Perrin, who wrote the following message on LinkedIn:
Hey! We’ve recently been informed that, like most of the Industry, Spiders Games will proceed a layoff plan and sadly most of the Animation and Rig team will be affected …If you're looking for some talented and passionated Paris based Animator or a Rig Artist, hit me up.
It is unfortunately only the latest instance of a seemingly unending wave of layoffs, from the largest companies (Warner Bros. shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB Games San Diego, EA laying off between 300 and 400 employees including at Respawn and Codemasters, and Microsoft shutting down The Initiative and canceling the new MMO in development at ZeniMax Online Studios) to mid-sized ones like Supermassive and now Spiders, too.
Greedfall 2: The Dying World hasn't done well since its launch in early access, that's for sure. The game 'peaked' at 375 concurrent players on Steam, but it is barely being played at this point, with yesterday's daily peak registered at a mere 10 players. User reviews are also very negative—the total sits at 55%, but the recent reviews are even lower rated (40%).
One of the main sticking points for most of the community and, indeed, the undersigned, is the combat system, which was changed from the real-time action of the first Greedfall to a tab-targeting-like combat reminiscent of Dragon Age: Origins or MMOs like World of Warcraft. Spiders has since taken steps to improve the feel of the combat through better animations and sounds, but the core remained the same, and it definitely felt very dated. It's a shame, as the first Greedfall was a fun and well-made action RPG that warranted a proper sequel.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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