Until Dawn remake developer Ballistic Moon has reportedly been "effectively closed", with only a handful of employees remaining at the studio.
According to a report by Insider Gaming, which cites "multiple sources with knowledge of the situation", the remaining staff at Ballistic Moon were let go in December. Those layoffs followed staff reductions back in September, just before the Until Dawn remake's October release.
Insider Gaming's sources say that around 40 staff were let go in September, and that about 20 more lost their jobs in December, with only the studio's founders and "possibly" a few more employees remaining at Ballistic Moon. No developers, marketing execs, or PR folks are still there, apparently.
Ballistic Moon's gutting effectively means that the Until Dawn remake has nobody working on patches or updates; a source told Insider Gaming that people were "sharing bugs" to make Ballistic Moon aware of them, but that "there is no one working on patch support".
Apparently, Ballistic Moon's owners attempted to keep the ball rolling with regards to further support for Until Dawn, but Sony wasn't interested. Sources also told Insider Gaming that Ballistic Moon's owners were looking for new publishers for other projects, but they weren't successful.
Unfortunately, it probably isn't a surprise that Ballistic Moon is in its current position. Reportedly, Until Dawn debuted to a lower PS5 player count than the doomed shooter Concord, and its Steam player count peak of just over 2,600 players isn't particularly noteworthy either.
Given that Sony currently seems to be in the middle of a rethink when it comes to its gaming operations, studios like Ballistic Moon are unfortunately likely to be the first in the gaming giant's firing line.
Of course, with respect to Ballistic Moon, I'd question the necessity of remaking Until Dawn in the first place. The original's not particularly old, and it seems to me that a remaster along the lines of Horizon Zero Dawn's would have worked just as well.
In any case, if you do want to see the fruits of Ballistic Moon's labor, the Until Dawn remake is available now on PC and PS5, and you can read our Tyler's review of the game here.
