Smite developer Hi-Rez Studios lays off employees to ensure 'long-term success'

The videogame industry has been suffering a malaise since the start of 2023 that somehow still shows no sign of abating. September alone saw people put out of work at Mountaintop Studios, Airship Syndicate, Evening Star, Microsoft, Midnight Society, Lost Boys Interactive, Ballistic Moon, and Rocksteady. Now it's October 1 and here we go again: Hi-Rez Studios CEO Stewart Chisam has announced the "difficult but necessary" layoff of an unspecified number of employees, saying the cuts were made "to ensure Hi-Rez's long-term success."

The layoffs are being made "across Hi-Rez," Chisam wrote on X, but "will disproportionately impact those in marketing and publishing roles, as well as some from our Evil Mojo, G&A, and Titan Forge divisions. The game team roles impacted disproportionally affect our team working on cosmetic skin content and system features."

Hi-Rez split itself into multiple separate studios in 2018: Titan Forge develops the Smite games, while Evil Mojo does Paladins. G&A is presumably Hi-Rez's general and administration division.

"This move follows a comprehensive review of our strategy and operations," Chisam continued. "In the game division, we have decided to concentrate our efforts entirely on Smite 2, outside of small teams supporting light updates for Paladins and Smite 1.

"Within Smite 2, we are almost exclusively prioritizing gameplay development in the near term—such as new modes and gods—as well as quality improvements—over some cosmetic and monetization features previously planned in the run-up to the game’s free-to-play launch next year."

Smite 2 launched into early access on Steam in August to decidedly mixed reviews: PC Gamer contributor Sarah Richter found it promising but lacking in some meaningful ways, particularly for newcomers to the series. It's also entering into a newly resurgent MOBA milieu, which is even more challenging thanks to Valve's recent entry into the field with Deadlock. 

Smite 2 has been putting up pretty okay concurrent player numbers for an early access MOBA, but notably it's still lagging well behind the original Smite, suggesting that quite a few players aren't interested in making the move at this point.

Chisam acknowledged the "real human impact" of the layoffs, saying each person being put out of work "is a talented and dedicated professional who has poured their heart and soul into our games," and that the cuts "reflects a failure in my leadership, and one for which I take personal accountability." How exactly he will take accountability was not specified, however.

"While these changes are difficult, we believe they are necessary and we will emerge stronger from them," Chisam wrote. "We appreciate your continued support and understanding during this challenging period, and the support and thanks you give those employees who are impacted and have given so much of their passion and time to help entertain us all."