The Outsiders founder and creative director of Metal Hellsinger, David Goldfarb, has confirmed his studio has been shuttered by parent company, Funcom.
In a statement posted to Bluesky, Goldfarb wrote: “I have not had much time to process the news but all of us at The Outsiders and Funcom Stockholm have been affected by the layoffs at Funcom and our 10-year-old studio will be closing.”
Funcom, the Oslo-based studio behind the recently released Dune: Awakening, announced it would be laying off staff on October 1. In a statement sent to GamesIndustry.biz at the time, the developer said that the open-world survival game was “the biggest release we’ve had in our 32-year long history of making great games,” before indicating that staff members would be let go as part of a studio restructuring.
In his statement, Goldfarb stated “many” of the team had “survived a near-death studio experience years back when Darkborn was cancelled, and because of this team’s loyalty and refusal to quit, Metal Hellsinger was born.”
“It will always be a high point for me personally, and I will be forever grateful we got to make it and for the wonderful team and partnerships that made it happen,” he added.
“We had hoped to do something even better this time [but] things don’t always go the way you hope.
“But we are not giving up, and we are going to try to continue on in some new form. If you think you can help in any way, with business leads, placement for employees, guidance, whatever it is, I would be genuinely grateful if you reach out here. Change is always tough and right now we are all hurting. Thanks so much.”
It brings the total estimated number of developers laid off in 2025 so far to at least 4400, although as many companies, such as Funcom, do not specify the number of staff affected, the actual figure is likely significantly larger.
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