Lower than six months after shedding an estimated 70 folks, Smite 2 developer Hello-Rez Studios has made one other spherical of cuts. However this time, somewhat than rank-and-file staff, the layoffs are targeted on “senior administration positions” close to the highest of the corporate’s meals chain.
The layoffs have been first reported final week by former Hello-Rez designer ThorDG, whose message on X was rapidly shared to the Smite subreddit, the place Smite govt producer Alex Cantatore weighed in to verify “a handful of layoffs in senior administration positions” final week.
“Stew [Hi-Rez president Stewart Chisam] is transitioning away from Hello-Rez as a part of this,” Cantatore wrote. “Travis [executive producer Travis Brown] and Radar [lead producer Tony Jones] have been additionally affected, in addition to two of us in senior administration on the Rally Right here facet of the enterprise. I’m very unhappy to be shedding all of them.
“Basically, the board’s rationale was that the corporate had lots of senior administration in relation to our present measurement. This doesn’t have an effect on our core mission, or another folks working straight on Smite 2. We are going to proceed to focus our efforts on enhancing the core sport and new participant expertise, whereas including extra Gods at our present one-per-two-weeks tempo.”
In a separate publish on LinkedIn, Chisam confirmed that he is leaving Hello-Rez, writing that his departure “has been mentioned for a very long time [with Hi-Rez CEO Erez Goren], however the timing was lastly proper.”
“The previous few years have been troublesome for Hello-Rez, and for the trade,” Chisam wrote. “Actually not the whole lot has labored out as we hoped, however I feel we even have left a singular footprint on the trade—and tried to carve out an area as a mid-size cross-platform games-as-a-service pioneer, relentlessly combating towards giants. The crew that is still is completely unimaginable and I do know they’ll take pleasure in success. The trouble and keenness they’ve for the gamers and for the Smite IP is unmatched.”
Jones additionally confirmed on LinkedIn that he is leaving Hello-Rez “as a part of some current restructuring.”
The previous couple years, as Chisam stated, haven’t been excellent to Hello-Rez. The studio introduced Smite 2 in January 2024 with a promise to assist each the unique sport and the sequel, however the wheels got here off that plan earlier than the top of the 12 months: In October 2024, Hello-Rez laid off an unspecified variety of staff and closed two different video games as a way to “focus our efforts fully on Smite 2, exterior of small groups supporting mild updates for Paladins and Smite 1.” Earlier this 12 months, Hello-Rez confirmed the top of improvement of main updates for Smite 1, Paladins, and Rogue Firm.
