Job losses rock Trion Worlds

Defiance developer Trion Worlds has been hit by a "massive" round of layoffs.

Sources speaking toIGNclaimed that more than half of the company has been let go, with some claiming as many as 80 per cent of staff were laid off.

It has also been claimed the most of the layoffs affected Defiance support and developer staff, as well as those working on multiple projects on top of their work on the title.

Developers were also allegedly escorted off the San Diego office, where most of the development of Defiance was situated, with claims some senior staff may not receive severance pay due to undelivered services”.

Trion has denied many of the claims however, and said that figures suggesting 80 per cent of staff had been laid off were exaggerated”, although it did not specific how many staff were let go.

A spokesperson also said claims that staff had been escorted off the premises and were not being offered severance pay were 100 per cent false”.

"To best position Trion in a rapidly changing industry, we have reorganised our teams and are expanding our free to play offering,” read a statement form the studio.

Earlier this month, MMO and transmedia title Defiance, which accompanies a TV series of the same name, surpassed one million registered users.

It is not currently clear what the mass layoffs mean for the future of Defiance, and whether it will negatively affect the game in the long-term. The TV show was recently commissioned for a second series by SyFy.

Layoffs at developer Trion come five months after the studiolaid off as many as 40 staffin December. At the time, the company said the redundancies were in response to market conditions, product timelines and the natural evolution of our company”.

Story originally published on Develop