40 laid off at Firefall studio Red5 – report

A significant portion of staff at Firefall developer Red5 have had their jobs axed.

That’s according to MMORPG.com, who reports that 40 employees have been fired disappointing launch for the free-to-play MMO shooter in China.

This news comes courtesy of an anonymous source from the studio, who claims that the staff were let go without any severance pay.

Cuts were made to every department, and included leads, senior developers and company veterans. The source estimates that 20 to 25 per cent of the studio lost their jobs in this round of cuts.

The source goes onto say that publisher The9 asked Red5 to essentially remake Firefall in one year, including substantial overhauls and changes to ‘every major system’.

Firefall launched in the West in July 2014, before it hit China last week.