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The turmoil at indie studio Heart Machine appears to be deepening, with reports of a second round of layoffs hitting the developer this month. The new staff reductions come just days before the scheduled November 11th launch of their highly anticipated new title Possessor(s), published by Devolver Digital.
This latest development follows a previous round of layoffs confirmed earlier in October, which coincided with the studio’s announcement that they were ceasing development on their early access title Hyper Light Breaker. Heart Machine is also known for critically acclaimed games such as Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash.
At least four developers from Heart Machine have publicly confirmed via social media posts on October 28th and 29th that they have been impacted by the latest staff reductions. The sudden nature of the layoffs has been noted by several individuals, even as the company rushes to finalize its new game.
“My heart is heavy & I might have more to say on that later, but I’ve got news today that my time at Heart Machine will come to an end after Possessor(s) ships,” one developer wrote on Bluesky. They added that they are too busy “literally shipping the game to start actively looking for work,” but plan to begin their job search in December.
Another developer, who had been with the studio for nearly six years, stated that their tenure had “sadly come to a rather abrupt end.” The depth of the cuts was emphasized by a third post: “Heart Machine has just laid off a bunch more people, effective immediately. And by the time Possessor(s) comes out on November 11, I don’t know if anyone who worked on the game will even be at the company anymore. That’s game dev.”
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