People Can Fly, the Polish developer associated with titles like Outriders and Gears of War: Judgement, has reportedly axed 30 developers who were working on a new "unannounced" Square Enix title, codenamed Project Gemini.
The company's developer director told Kotaku it was a result of "budget limitations and shrinking scope". About 20 other employees have also been taken off this project but reassigned to other projects. Here's part of the internal email sent out to team members:
“We understand that this decision impacts each of you, and we want to express our gratitude for your hard work, dedication, and contributions thus far. To those individuals transitioning out of the studio due to these changes, we extend our sincere appreciation for the skills and expertise you brought to the team. We will keep our fingers crossed for your next steps in game dev and offer all our support.”
Employees who have been laid off at the company will have a "three-month transition period" and will continue to work during that time. However, employees located outside of Poland will be out of the job by the end of this week. Project Gemini was planned to launch in 2026, and it's unknown what will happen from here on out, but the campaign and enemy roster are expected to be scaled back.
Last year, it was discovered People Can Fly was also working on a new "Triple-A game developed in collaboration with Microsoft" codenamed Project Maverick. It will reportedly have a budget of 30 to 50 million dollars.