Homeworld 3 developer Blackbird is cutting jobs and unannounced projects

Blackbird Interactive has cut forty jobs, more than ten percent of all employees. In addition, several unannounced projects have been canceled this year. The studio is known, among other things, as the developer of Homeworld 3, a game that should be released next year.

“This year has been very tough for the entire industry. As a result, we canceled several unannounced projects and had to say goodbye to 41 of our team members on Tuesday,” the company told IGN. Blackbird emphasizes that games already announced are not affected by this decision.

Among other lead game designer Sean Storey, senior software engineer Joseph Hurst, creative director Matthew Freedman and game director Quinn Duffy were fired from Blackbird this week. Game World Observer notes that Duffy previously worked at Relic Entertainment on the first Homewold game, was game director for Company of Heroes 2 and was design director for Age of Empires IV.

Blackbird Interactive was founded in 2007 and reports on his site to have more than three hundred employees. The Canadian studio was founded by former Relic and EA employees. The first title was rts Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, a spin-off of the Homeworld series. They also created simulation game Hardspace: Shipbreaker and worked with Mojang on Minecraft Earth and Minecraft Legends. The developer will release Homeworld 3, a space RTS and a sequel to the 2003 title Homeworld 2, in February 2024.