Supermassive Games Lays Off Staff, Delays Directive 8020

Supermassive Games, known for Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology horror series, has announced plans to lay off up to 36 employees in a new round of staff reductions.

In a statement posted to the studio's social media channels this afternoon, Supermassive also confirmed a delay for its highly anticipated sci-fi horror title Directive 8020, which is now scheduled for release in the first half of 2026.

Announcing the job cuts, Supermassive stated it must restructure its team to better adapt to the challenging and continuously shifting landscape of game development. These layoffs follow a previous round in March 2024, when the developer let go approximately 90 staff members using similarly phrased reasoning.

Supermassive reported having roughly 350 employees in 2023, meaning the studio has reduced its workforce by about one-third over the last year and a half.

"We remain committed to our upcoming projects and have decided to move the launch of Directive 8020 to the first half of 2026," Supermassive said. "The response to the game so far has been incredible, and this extra time will allow us to deliver the best possible experience for our fans. We are profoundly thankful for our community's patience and support."

A standalone title within The Dark Pictures Anthology, Directive 8020 was first hinted at among a list of potential series entries in early 2022. The game was officially revealed later that year in a trailer following The Dark Pictures: The Devil In Me. Three years later, fans are still awaiting its release.

A statement from Supermassive Games. pic.twitter.com/Vom1CSGYGs

— Supermassive Games (@SuperMGames) July 22, 2025

The Dark Pictures Anthology began in 2019 with the eerie nautical mystery Man of Medan, followed by the 2020 historical horror Little Hope and the 2021 Iraq-based story House of Ashes. The series continued with the murder-hotel inspired The Devil in Me in 2022, and the VR spin-off Switchback VR a year later.

Since then, development on new series installments seems to have slowed, with Directive 8020 now arriving at least three years after the franchise's previous main entry and positioned as a more independent story. Supermassive has stated it used the additional time to enhance the franchise's gameplay, though connections to prior games—such as through the recurring mysterious character, The Curator—appear to be scaled back.

In the interim, Supermassive will continue developing the delayed Little Nightmares 3, currently slated for an October 10 release. The studio confirmed that today's layoffs do not affect this project's development.