The third piece of news about layoffs today. Next up is Reflector Entertainment, the studio that developed the adventure action game Unknown 9: Awakening.
Unknown 9: Awakening
The first report about the layoffs came from Kotaku journalist Ethan Gach. His information is confirmed by posts from former studio employees on LinkedIn. Specifically, narrative designer Anna Karina Bermudez, brand manager Manou Deneuvel, and level artist Dorian Duroyaume reported being forced to leave Reflector Entertainment.
It is unknown how many people were laid off in total at Reflector Entertainment.
Possibly, the layoffs at Reflector Entertainment were prompted by the poor start of Unknown 9: Awakening. The game was released on October 18 for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. By the time of this report, it had received only 74 reviews on Steam, with 45% being positive. The situation is slightly better on the PlayStation Store, where 334 people rated Unknown 9: Awakening, resulting in an average score of 3.68 out of 5.
Regarding the online presence, the peak number of concurrent players on the Steam version of Unknown 9: Awakening was 285 people.
Management at Reflector Entertainment has not commented on the layoffs. There have also been no statements from Bandai Namco Entertainment, the studio's parent company.