It is with sadness that d20Radio communicates what we have confirmed is a large layoff of key personnel positions within Fantasy Flight Games. According to our sources, the decision was communicated to the affected employees on Monday, January 6. The two prominent areas of layoff we have confirmed are both Fantasy Flight Interactive (the company’s digital game studio) and the RPG department.
Former employees have begun making public statements; most prominently, Fantasy Flight Interactive’s Studio Head, Tim Gerritsen – who has confirmed on LinkedIn that FFI will be fully shuttering in February. Tim’s statement is below:
Other employees have made public statement of confirmation, including former employee Sam Bailey, who confirmed on Reddit that he was aware of at least 14 layoffs. Additionally, d20Radio has independently confirmed that the entirety of the RPG design staff was a part of that 14, and were also laid off on Monday.
This, obviously, has profound implications for the future of FFG’s highly popular roleplaying game lines of Star Wars, Legend of the Five Rings, and Genesys. The future of these games is still uncertain. For his part, Sam Bailey on Reddit commented on his belief that any future RPG work would be done through freelancers, rather than an in-house team. This also lends uncertainty as to the status of the recently announced KeyForge: Secrets of the Crucible setting supplement for Genesys, which was formally announced on the company’s website the day of the layoffs.
It is unknown, as of yet, why Fantasy Flight Games and their parent company, Asmodee, made the decision to shutter the Interactive studio, and layoff the in-house RPG team. To date, neither FFG or Asmodee have made any public statement or comment as to the layoffs or the future of these titles.
At d20Radio, we have been proud to have a strong relationship with Fantasy Flight Games for the past seven years, as a large portion of our podcast network and blog content was devoted to these games. The designers and developers affected by this decision were phenomenally talented, creative, passionate, and dedicated people who love the hobby – and continually gave freely to go above and beyond for the fans. Many of them we have come to know quite well.
We at d20Radio wish to express our heartfelt sadness for our friends. You are beacons and talents in this industry, and you have given us the fruits of your tireless labor, which have quite literally changed many of our lives in profound ways. This is the legacy you have given us. You are our friends, our family, and we love you.
d20Radio will do our best to keep all readers and listeners continually informed as new information is released, and new developments are communicated.
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