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Peter Molyneux's 22cans studio faces layoffs as work continues on Legacy

The studio has confirmed that an unshared number of employees were made redundant, but also claims work continues on its current game.

TJ Denzer

February 16, 2021 4:37 PM

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It would appear that a number of developers have found themselves out of a job over at Fable creator Peter Molyneux’s current studio, 22cans. The studio recently confirmed that a number of employees had been let go in a round of layoffs. However, it also claims that work continues unhindered on its latest project.

The news of 22cans’ layoffs was revealed in a recent report by GamesIndustry.biz. In a correspondence with GI.biz, 22cans had revealed that employees had been laid off for a number of factors including redundancy, though an exact number of layoffs was not disclosed.

“Unfortunately, due to a number of factors including projects reaching a certain stage in their development, we can confirm that a number of roles at 22cans have been made redundant,” a spokesperson for 22cans shared. “Development at the studio is continuing, however."

Legacy was the last project announced and detailed by 22cans and is presumably still its current project. The studio announced the game back in 2019 and even shared some details, as reported by Red Bull Gaming, but little has been shared since.

Since 22cans was founded by Peter Molyneux in 2012, the studio has worked on four games, including Curiosity: What’s Inside the Cube and the godhood sim, Godus. Curiosity even had a contest that would have given a winner the chance to “achieve godhood” in Godus, help with decisions, and earn a share of profits, though this prize never quite materialized for Scottish winner Bryan Henderson.

Since then we’ve heard little from Molyneux outside of debunking a rumor that he was leaving the game industry when his Twitter was hacked in 2016 and the 22cans release of a trail hiking game suitably called The Trail: Frontier Challenge, which was released in 2017.

The year looks foggy for 22cans. With the wording that development has reached a certain stage where certain staff weren’t necessary, it’s possible we could hear something about Legacy soon, but Peter Molyneux and company still seem to be playing close to the chest on if and when that will come to pass.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.