The Long Dark developer Hinterland Studio announced layoffs affecting 14 people on Wednesday, which CEO Raphael van Lierop called the “first group layoffs in 13 years of running the studio.” Van Lierop cited the state of the games industry, as well as the need to push back the release of its upcoming sequel to The Long Dark, Blackfrost.
“I’m sad to share the news that I’ve made the difficult decision today to part ways with 10 of our cherished colleagues. We will also not extend some existing fixed-term contracts when they expire, impacting another 4 team members, bringing the total affected to 14,” van Lierop wrote in a statement, continuing,
Like most self-published developers, Hinterland is not insulated from the tumultuous state of the games industry at this time. But this decision is primarily motivated by progress around our projects. Blackfrost, our sequel to The Long Dark, needs more time in development before we will be able to launch it in Early Access. Pushing the game out beyond the end of 2026 means pushing significant expected revenue out as well, and these layoffs will help us preserve the financial resources required to get the game to launch, as well as to continue supporting our current games.
Some heavy news today. We are sadly parting with 10 members of our development team. Details in the statement from our CEO and creative director, below.
— Hinterland | WISHLIST BLACKFROST! (@hinterland.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T02:17:39.370Z
This news sucks. But in a week that’s seen inexplicable layoffs at Highguard developer Wildlight, in which a reported “most” of the team has been let go two weeks after the game’s release, as well as the layoffs of 80 people from Riot’s 2XKO a handful of weeks into its official launch because “overall momentum hasn’t reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term,” seeing the thinking behind Hinterland’s layoffs laid out like this is at least comprehensible. The studio was counting on some money coming in at a certain time, and now that money isn’t coming in.
“As the head of the company, you should cast your judgement on me, and not on” the laid-off developers, van Lierop wrote in the statement. “I’m sorry to have had to let these people go.”
Contrast that to, say, the behavior of Washington Post (ex)CEO Will Lewis, who announced he was leaving The Post last Saturday night after hiding from mass layoffs at his company and then being spotted at a Super Bowl party. (The Washington Post is the former employer of Nathan and me.) CEOs rarely take responsibility for the consequences of their choices, reserving that for the employees they lay off and defaulting to ambiguous language or "we" instead of "I" when it comes to who makes the decisions. None of this offsets casting developers into the current games employment market, but in a grim sign of the times, I can at least respect a statement that makes sense and puts the responsibility where it belongs.
In an email to Aftermath, van Lierop said, “I know it's easy to lose sight of the human factor when it comes to leadership, and I know there are some sociopathic studio heads out there who aren't phased by these kinds of things, but the people I know who run studios are strongly humanistic people who care a lot about their teams, and take their leadership responsibilities seriously… It should never be easy to make these kinds of decisions. If it ever becomes easy for me to make a decision about someone's livelihood or their family's safety and security, I should not be in this role anymore.”
Van Lierop told Aftermath,
The industry is in shambles. You know you're putting people out into the absolute worst job market for games in the past 25 years. It's going to affect them, their families, in ways you can't imagine. You're tearing apart working relationships and friendships, and the people left behind also have to be able to live with it. There's an inherent sense that you are telling these people they are somehow ‘lesser’ because they've been selected for cuts. When in fact, all you're trying to do is work through this horrific calculus to determine what's the exact combination of layoffs that will do the absolute least amount of damage possible--to the people, to the projects.
Van Lierop told Aftermath Hinterland will reach out to other studios to try to place laid-off developers, and that “one local Vancouver studio that we hired people from after they did layoffs a few years ago is now hiring again and already reached out to see our list” of affected workers. He said Hinterland will also help laid-off workers with resumes, cover letters, interview practice, and “ensure any artists can use project materials for their portfolios.” He said that “Beyond that, we're giving the best severance we can offer, extending benefits as long as we can to help with the transition, and our team will continue to check in on these people and be there if they need emotional support as they look for work.”
“Every single one of these Hinterlanders is a great person and an excellent developer,” reads the statement. “We are a weaker studio for losing them, and they will be sorely missed.”
