In June 2023, Fishlabs had two in-house projects.
Project Black went through many mutations.
The sister has completely succumbed to this malady, while the brother has a corrupted arm.
Project Black was a troubled endeavour.
It had a flat operational structure, where ideas came from all over.
This was also the first time Fishlabs had worked on two major projects simultaneously, according to sources.
But there were reasons to be confident.
It just wasn’t coming together fast enough for Embracer.
The review group ultimately decided to cancel the game.
Project Black was also deemed risky because it wasn’t based on one of Embracer’s other intellectual properties.
In the course of the cancellation, Fishlabs laid off 10% of their staff - around 12 people.
The rest of the Project Black team were split up between the company’s other projects.
Crucially, Fishlabs were able to retain their German government funding and transfer it to Project White.
The Project White team had experimented with various game ideas throughout Project Black’s development.
“They just went quiet,” one source told me.
“Never heard from them again”.
Naturally, the pitching team also considered making a sequel to Chorus.
Embracer announcedthe closure of Red Faction’s original creators, the wonderful Volition Inc, on 31st August 2023.
The pitch made sense to studio members, nonetheless.
Red Faction, after all, began life as a story of working people fighting corporate injustice.
There were plans for a female protagonist, who would once again take part in an underground workers revolution.
Partly, this reflected the natural camaraderie born of sharing a painful experience.
But many at Fishlabs also felt that the worst might be over.
Lessons had also been learned from the problems of Project Black’s development.
Fishlabs pitched the Red Faction game several times to Plaion, the studio’s immediate corporate parent.
The most elaborate pitch came in mid-November, and involved an element of cosplay.
But it wasn’t to last.
During the week of 20th November, there was another internal vote on the Red Faction project’s future.
The vote was split 50-50, which meant that the Red Faction game was immediately cancelled.
Early the next week, there was a surprise all-hands meeting, encompassing on-site staff and remote workers.
But many staff went into the meeting nonetheless with high hopes.
When staffers entered the meeting, however, it was obvious what was coming.
As with the previous cuts, a handful of staff were transferred to Fishlabs' cross-development team.
In gutting Fishlabs, Embracer have done a colossal injury to one of the industry’s kinder creative communities.
People also characterised Fishlabs as a studio on the make, following the warm reception for Chorus.
Above all, Fishlabs was a studio whose leaders were prepared to fight for their staff.
The November layoffs were more chaotic.
Some people had recently moved to Germany, meeting part of the relocation costs themselves.
Certain team members were based in different countries, which affected their severance packages.
All broadly echoed this narrative.
I also asked for general thoughts on what Embracer were like to work under.
Revenues must grow by a chunky margin: if they don’t, costs must be cut.
Embracer’s mishandling of their business might be grotesque, but it’s business as usual nonetheless.
