Kwalee Labs announced September 4 that it had laid off all nine developers who worked on Luna Abyss, its first in-house game released last month [1, 2]. The team had spent seven years developing the game since 2019 [1].
The layoffs came despite Luna Abyss receiving critical praise, holding an 81 Metacritic score, but the game did not achieve strong commercial success [1, 2]. On Steam, it peaked at just 317 concurrent players, indicating a limited player base [1]. Luna Abyss is available on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC for $29.99 [1].
Kwalee Labs CEO Hollie Emery announced the layoffs on LinkedIn, saying, "We're enamoured by the love and support it received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media. Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers - and we are incredibly proud that it has finally seen the light of day (thank you to everyone who believed in us!). Unfortunately as of yesterday, the entire team has been made redundant; a decision that was completely outside of our control" [2].
The layoffs appear to reflect a broader trend of job cuts and studio closures in the gaming industry this summer [1]. Luna Abyss, released in August 2026, was Kwalee Labs’ first internally developed title [2].
