Outriders Developer Scales Down Self-Publishing Projects And Lays Off 120 Employees

Outriders and Bulletstorm developer People Can Fly has announced that it has let go 120 employees, as well as scaled down some of its self-publishing projects.

In a statement on Twitter, People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski said, "Today, we made a very difficult decision to reduce our self-publishing strategy by suspending Project Victoria, scaling down our team Project Bifrost, and restructuring some of our supporting teams at People Can Fly."

He blames the external pressures of the video game industry and that the layoffs were necessary as those pressures persisted beyond the studio's forecast. As a result, the studio is now doubling down on new work-for-hire engagements and focusing on development of a single independent game.

Back in 2023, People Can Fly confirmed that it was in the pre-production phase for three games: Project Dagger, Project Bifrost, and Project Victoria, all three of which were going to be self-published and launch between 2025-2026. Project Dagger was canceled earlier this year in April, and now it looks like Bifrost and Victoria are facing trouble if not outright canceled.

People Can Fly also has several other projects in development, including Project Gemini with Square Enix, slated to launch in 2026, as well as Project Red, which is currently at the concept stage. The studio is also working with Microsoft on a mystery IP called Project Maverick.

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