2K has laid off staff at 31st Union, the studio working on free-to-play shooter Project Ethos. The news was announced in an internal memo sent by studio head Ben Brinkman, which 2K subsequently shared with GamesIndustry.biz.<\/p>\n
In it, he described Project Ethos as “a bold new game with a renewed direction and vision \u2013 a skill-based PVP roguelike experience that will challenge and thrill players.” That’s a small change from the game’s debut, when it was described as a “roguelike hero shooter”.<\/p>\n
“Since joining 31st Union, it’s become clear that changes need to be made to our team in order to realize our goals,” he wrote. “Our success is dependent on our ability to work more quickly and nimbly,” wrote Brinkman. “To do that, we’ve made the difficult decision to scale back our team to better align with where we are in development, which unfortunately means parting ways with some valued colleagues today.”<\/p>\n
“While today is going to be hard, I\u2019ve never been more confident in the future of our game, this team, and the commitment and investment Take-Two and 2K leadership continue to show.”<\/p>\n
2K did not confirm the number of roles affected. It did provide a new piece of concept art which suggests the “renewed direction and vision” incorporates a more distinctive, fantasy-like visual identity for the game, compared to its original Fortnite-esque appearance.<\/p>\n
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The game’s debut in 2024 received a muted response. | Image credit: 31st Union\/2K Games<\/p>\n
31st Union was formed back in 2019 when the outlook for a hero shooter was altogether rosier. Project Ethos was announced in 2024, shortly after the high-profile demise of Sony’s hero shooter Concord. It received a lukewarm response<\/a> which was claimed to be the justification for the departure of studio head Michael Condry<\/a>, who’d previously lead Call of Duty studio Sledgehammer Games. Brinkman joined the studio six months later<\/a>.<\/p>\n