The latest victim of Embracer Group’s infamous restructuring plan has been revealed. This time, it’s the developer behind the Insurgency franchise New World Interactive. The news that originally started as a rumor from Second Wind’s Nick Calandra soon became a confirmed reality. Now, we know that the studio faced several fires as part of the restructuring proposed by Embracer Group.
Embracer acquired Insurgency: Sandstorm developer New World Interactive through its Saber Interactive subsidiary in 2020. Now, the company and its employees have been confirmed to have been laid off. Nick Calandra from Second Wind at first stated that this came as part of an official shut down of the developer. Miraculously, this is not the case, as New World Interactive will still stand after the layoffs go through.
A representative from New World Interactive recently spoke to PC Gamer to confirm that the developer wasn’t defunct yet. “Saber can confirm there have been restructuring changes involving our New World Interactive subsidiary,” the rep said. “This reorganization has unfortunately resulted in layoffs at the studio. We are working to fill existing open roles within Saber with individuals affected by these changes wherever feasible, and we will be providing severance packages to those employees impacted.”
At the time of the acquisition, New World Interactive employed 40 people at its Denver, US headquarters and 35 developers at a studio in Calgary, Canada. It’s unknown how many people have been let go as a consequence of this round of layoffs. Still, if the statement provided by one of the ex-employees at the Embracer subsidiary is anything to go by, it’s a rather devastating number of employees.
One more tidbit of information that the rep confirmed is that Insurgency: Sandstorm will continue its development. Additionally, other projects that continue to remain unannounced by the company will also continue development.
