Fenris Creations has confirmed layoffs on the team building EVE Frontier, about six months after the Icelandic studio left Pearl Abyss and rebranded from CCP Games.
In a statement issued on November 5th, the studio said it is "making changes to the EVE Frontier development team as part of a review of the project's priorities, structure and development plans." It added: "Regrettably, these changes include a reduction in roles. We recognise the impact on our colleagues and are committed to supporting those affected with care and respect."
The number of roles cut was not disclosed. Fenris said EVE Frontier "remains in active development" and that the changes are meant to create "a more focused development structure" and support the project's long-term ambitions. According to the statement, the cuts were proposed by the EVE Frontier leadership team and are "specific to EVE Frontier, rather than part of a broader company-wide restructuring."
Independence pledge and EVE Frontier
Fenris went independent on May 6th in a $120m transaction that returned ownership to its senior management and long-term investors, with Google taking a minority stake alongside a research partnership with Google DeepMind. In that May announcement, the studio said the shift was ownership and governance only, that leadership, studios and development plans were unchanged, and that the move did not involve restructuring or layoffs. Headquarters would stay in Vatnsmýrin, Iceland, with studios in Reykjavík, London and Shanghai continuing as before.
In its November statement, Fenris addressed that earlier line directly. "Our statement at the time of independence reflected our plans at that point, with these subsequent decisions taken in response to the project's development needs," it said.
EVE Frontier is listed by Fenris as an online space survival game still in development, alongside EVE Online and the extraction-adventure FPS EVE Vanguard. The studio has not said how the team cuts will change the project's schedule or scope.
