Layoffs hit Gas Powered Games just after launching $1.1M Kickstarter campaign

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Kotaku is reporting that "almost everyone" has been laid off at developer Gas Powered Games . That's from an anonymous source, but Chris Taylor, founder of GPG, later e-mailed Kotaku to confirm that layoffs have occurred, though not how many.

On Monday, GPG and Chris Taylor launched a $1.1M Kickstarter campaign for Action RPG/RTS Wildman, which we covered with a preview and interview .

The topic of layoffs actually came up during our chat with Taylor last week. His comments were part of a much larger conversation which was cut down--we expected to publish more of the interview later, but as it's immediately relevant, here's what Taylor said when asked if all of Gas Powered Games' staff will be working on Wildman, or if there are other projects:

"No, right now we have one other project that's wrapping up, so when it comes to staffing and team sizes, unfortunately our headcount has to float with the revenue that can come in to pay for them. So, under the model of that wrapping up and this being modestly funded, we're probably going to be a 20 person company. Right now we're 50, last year we were 80, so there's been a reduction. It's sad to have to say goodbye to people, but they're talented people and they get jobs, and they move on, and they do other exciting things.

"We just don't know where the funding on this is going to land, if we're so lucky as to get the funding. So if it comes in at the minimum, or it comes in at a multiple that allows us to have a greater team size, and frankly, to run the project for a longer period of time, add more features. So we don't really know yet. There's a lot of unknowns."

Tyler Wilde
Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.