Schell Games, the veteran VR studio behind spy-themed puzzle series I Expect You to Die and Among Us 3D, confirmed it has laid off around 10 percent of staff.
As initially noted by Game Developer, multiple Schell Games employees posted on LinkedIn late last week that the studio was conducting its first layoffs in its 20+ years in existence.
“Schell Games had their first ever layoffs today. I was not let go but my heart goes out to my former coworkers who were,” said Principal Engineering Manager Allison Salmon. “This has happened not because of anything you did or did not do. Our industry (and beyond) right now is hemorrhaging. I’m sorry to not have gotten to work with you longer.”
Schell Games CEO Jesse Schell confirmed the layoffs in a statement to Good Virtual Reality, noting it’s affected 10 percent of the studio:
Unfortunately, we found it necessary to do a 10% layoff for rebalancing purposes. After the layoffs we have about 125 staff. In 24 years as a studio, this is the first time we’ve found it necessary to have a layoff, so it was very difficult for everyone, because we lost some really great people. We had been on a path working on a smaller number of larger titles, but the way the industry is right now, it became very clear that working on a greater number of smaller projects is what will be sustainable, and that requires a different balance of team members than we had. VR is still a meaningful part of what we do – we have a new VR title in production right now, and have proposals in place for a few others. There was a time when headset based VR was 80% of our work, but at the moment it is more like 30%. We are doing more and more work that is VR adjacent, such as projects involving interactive projection for location based entertainment, which we think is a growing trend.
Notably, Schell has been a staunch supporter of keeping jobs at all costs. Speaking to GamesIndustry.Biz in 2024, Schell characterized layoffs as a last resort choice.
“At the heart of it all is choosing not to put jobs at risk,” Schell said in 2024. “We’ll put cash at risk when we make a game, but we don’t put jobs at risk. Even if our own IP brings in zero dollars, we still haven’t put any jobs at risk—we still have a path forward where we’ll be able to keep people on. So, in a lot of ways, it’s a choice.”
In addition to the I Expect You to Die trilogy and Among Us 3D (previously Among Us VR before adding flatscreen support), the studio is also known for horror-themed VR puzzle game Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire and Project Freefall, a free-to-play party game featuring both VR and flatscreen support.
Schell Games isn’t alone in its recent transition away from primarily developing VR titles, as many studios in the segment have suffered in light of Meta’s rash of VR studio closures earlier this year, which has not only included multiple project cancellations, but also signaled a wider shift in the VR games funding environment.
This included the cancellation of number of high-profile VR games, including an unannounced Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel from Meta’s Sanzaru Games, an unannounced Harry Potter VR game for Quest from Skydance Games, a major project from Moss developers Polyarc, and now, presumably, Combat Waffles next project “with large platform partner.”
Meanwhile, social VR platform Rec Room, VR veteran and Alien: Rogue Incursion studio Survios, and Metro: Awakening satellite studio Vertigo Studios Amsterdam have also shutdown.
