Staff members who worked on Unknown 9: Awakening are reporting layoffs across the team at Canadian company Reflector Entertainment.
The lost jobs include roles within Reflector's art, marketing, narrative and quality assurance (QA) teams, Game Developer reported.
Unknown 9: Awakening launched last month to mixed reviews. On Steam, where it has a mixed rating, fewer than 100 players have rated the game.
Published by Bandai Namco, Unknown 9: Awakening felt like an attempt to recapture the sci-fi adventure of Assassin's Creed, in a modern Tomb Raider-style globetrotting story that featured secret societies competing for the remnants of an ancient civilization.
First announced in 2020, the project garnered interest thanks to its intriguing debut trailer featuring a younger version of protagonist Haroona (played in the final game by Anya Chalotra, AKA Yennefer in Netflix's The Witcher). It was the first project from Montreal-based Reflector, co-founded by former Assassin's Creed Unity creative director Alexandre Amancio.
The game was also intended to serve as a central point for the franchise as a cross-media brand. Just this week, a second season of the companion podcast Unknown 9: Out of Sight launched, while the fourth issue of the graphic novel series Unknown 9: Torment arrived. There is also a web series, Unknown 9: Passage, which you can watch on YouTube.
“Unfortunately, I've been hit by layoffs at Reflector Entertainment, which means I'm currently looking for a job as a narrative designer or game writer. If you hear of any openings, please let me know,” said a staff member who lost the Work. work he wrote.
Eurogamer has contacted Bandai Namco for comment.