It may be exciting news to hear that Just Cause 3 has gone gold already, but Avalanche Studios employees may not be thinking the same thing, as the developer have just been hit with a second round of layoffs after the completion of the game.
In email correspondence with Game Informer, an Avalanche representative said that the decision has been made due to the difficulty in transitioning staff between major projects.
The transition between major projects is always challenging, especially for independent developers. We have just completed one project and are currently wrapping up another. In starting up our new projects, we were not able to perfectly match the team sizes and skill sets of the previous ones, and we unfortunately had to let some talented developers go. 12 developers were given notice in New York.
This isn’t the first time Avalanche staff have been faced with redundancy though; the same thing happened back in the summer, just after the release of Mad Max.
There was a similar number of notices given this summer in Stockholm, but right now we are in the process of rehiring some of those who left. We expect to keep hiring in the new year. This unfortunate event does not affect any of our current projects, and we’re taking measures to avoid situations like this in the future.
Just Cause 3 launches on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on December 1.
