Days Gone Developer Bend Studio Fires 30% of Its Staff

First reported by Jason Schreier, the layoffs have impacted roughly 30% of Bend Studio’s staff, totaling around 40 employees. Over on Bluesky, Schreier noted that despite the cuts, the studio isn’t in immediate danger of shutting down and is actively developing its next project, widely speculated to be a sequel to Days Gone.

Following the report, Bend Studio confirmed the layoffs with your typical corporate write-up about “talented teammates” and “difficult moments,” offering no details on the exact number of jobs lost or the reasons behind the decision.

Among those confirmed to have been affected are Senior Narrative Designer Marlena Hanne, Senior Staff Animator Robert Morrison, Senior Programmer Shane Lillie, Senior Surfacing Artist Kim Kirchstein, Environment Artist Carlos Perfume, Technical Producer Josh Jacobi, Game Designer Jacob Fieth, Programmer Tyler Chermely, Environment Artist Lucas Kosinski, and the entire Bend Studio tools team, including Senior Tools Developer Andrew Lyons and Senior Staff Tools Programmer Jonathan Gill.