H1Z1 developer Daybreak Games hit by another round of layoffs

Daybreak Games Company, the studio behind battle royale game H1Z1 and online FPS Planetside 2, has laid off a significant number of employees.

The company did not specify how many staff were let go but its founder John Smedley, who no longer works at the developer, estimated on Twitter that 70 people had been laid off, representing nearly a third of the workforce. "70 people is a lot," he said in a tweet that has since been deleted, adding that he was "really, really angry" about the news.

In a statement to various outlets including Gamasutra, Daybreak confirmed it had cut staff, and said it was "optimising our structure to ensure we best position ourselves for continued success in the years to come.

"This effort has required us to make some changes within the organization and we are doing everything we can to support those impacted in this difficult time. As we look to improve efficiencies and realign resources, we remain focused on supporting our existing games and development of our future titles."

It follows a round of layoffs in April, less than two months after H1Z1 went free-to-play, a shift which itself happened less than two weeks after it launched as a paid-for title.

The company's headquarter is in San Diego, California, but it has studios in Austin, Boston and South Korea. It was formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.