Luna Abyss is a fast-paced bullet-hell first-person shooter that arrived on PC and consoles this past May 21, 2026. I reviewed it for Wccftech, giving it an 8/10, praising its level design and art style. It wasn't perfect, but no game is, and the team behind it had more than shown their talent for making good games. Now, just weeks after Luna Abyss' launch, that entire team has been laid off, Kwalee Labs chief executive officer Hollie Emery revealed.
First spotted by Game Informer, Emery revealed the news on their personal LinkedIn page, which doesn't offer a reason for the layoffs but does add that the decision to lay off the entire team was "completely outside of our control." Kwalee Labs was formerly Bonsai Collective, before merging with games publisher Kwalee and rebranding under Kwalee Labs just last year.
"We're enamoured by the love and support [Luna Abyss] received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media. Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers - and we are incredibly proud that it has finally seen the light of day (thank you to everyone who believed in us!)," Emery wrote.
"Unfortunately as of yesterday, the entire team has been made redundant; a decision that was completely outside of our control. As a result, the entire team are available for work as of today." Wccftech reached out to Kwalee for a comment on the cuts, but did not receive a reply in time for publishing.
Emery goes on to thank their teammates and list the LinkedIn profiles for all those impacted by the cuts, including their own profile as they have also seemingly been made redundant as part of these layoffs.
Going by Emery's list, nine people have been impacted in this wave of cuts, and while it doesn't have the scale of what's to come from Xbox's reported layoffs, the core result is the same. Talented video game developers and artists are out of a job, even after releasing high-quality and beloved games.
Kwalee is not in the same position as Xbox. It doesn't have one of the world's biggest companies as its parent, with the potential to bankroll everything no matter its commercial success for years without breaking a sweat. But it's still unfortunate that even after releasing such a strong game like Luna Abyss, it wasn't enough to keep the team together.
For more on Luna Abyss, you can check out my aforementioned review or my preview from earlier in the year.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
