Yet another game studio has been laid off by a larger corporation; this time, it’s Dawon Studios, a small South Asian studio under the Prytania Media label, according to a LinkedIn post. While it’s smaller, it's still a sign of the current state of things, especially as it's the third studio under this company.
Notably, parent company Prytania held Possibility Space, which became famous for its CEO’s breakdown in the midst of its studio’s shutdown, claiming the layoffs were in part due to media leaks after Ethan Gatch of Kotaku inquired about the possibility. Now, it’s more evident these closures were due to happen anyway.
There were no games formally announced, but the company seemed slated to be in a good position by targeting India and the greater South Asian market in general, both from a development and player stance. South Asia is a serious market for mobile games in both perspectives, being a hot center for talent and mobile game players, both of which Dawon explicitly targeted per its LinkedIn mission statement and its values listed on its website.
Dawon’s LinkedIn post about the closure lists its three primary developers, including developers with roles at Hidden Path, Disney, Amazon, and Unity. We’re unsure if other Indian/South Asian developers were hired per its website mission.
As for the state of the industry, the very well-kept Wikipedia page on this past year's layoff leads to estimates that at least 14,000 people have been laid off in this industry, based off major studios alone; one PC Gamer piece estimated it as over 17,000 back in February and shows some cool (if sad) graphics about it.
(Fun Author's Note: I'm about to move on to write about more layoffs. It's bleak as ever, folks.)
