In what has seemingly become the terrible standard for the game industry, Heart Machine—the studio behind Hyper Light Drifter—will be initiating layoffs.
According to Game Developer, the studio announced it would be carrying out a round of layoffs; however, they did not specify how many people would be losing their jobs. Heart Machine had its first wave of layoffs back in November 2024; however, it also did not divulge how many staff members were let go at that time as well. As a result of this, development on Hyper Light Breaker—which was released in Early Access on January 14, 2025—has become somewhat fractured.
In a statement to Game Developer, a spokesperson for Heart Machine clarified the studio is trying to polish the game as much as possible, saying, “We still have something coming in January. We plan to deliver something meaningful and as polished and complete as we can, given our current circumstances. We’re doing our best to refine what we can, complete key systems, and have the game culminate in a satisfying punctuation point.”
They went on to say, “Given our limited resources with team members rolling off the project, we won’t be releasing any more updates or hosting any Q&As for the rest of this year. We want to make sure the team can focus fully on getting this next release into the best shape possible.” However, to quote Game Developer, “The indication…is that the studio will not be able to realize its original vision for the project.”
It is truly unfortunate to see a promising studio like Heart Machine so negatively affected by the current state of the game industry. Heart Machine struck gold in 2016 with the critically acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter, and managed to capture that magic again in 2021 with Solar Ash. Hopefully, the studio and those affected can land on their feet.
