Reflector confirms layoffs as Unknown 9: Awakening failed to meet “expectations”

Unknown 9 developer Reflector has notified teams of redundancies following the decision “to not greenlight” an unannounced project.

It is not clear how many people have been impacted by the cuts, but the layoffs will also affect back-office staff in order to “bring support teams in line with the single project approach the studio will adopt for the imminent future.”

Redundant staff will get “adequate” severance packages, and extended health care for themselves and their families. Counselling and “proactive career planning support” will also be available.

CEO Herve Hoerdt said proceeding with the project – which had been in the “conceptualisation phase” – “would not have been sustainable for the future of the studio.”

Reflector, a Bandai Namco studio, explained that “this decision correlates directly with the failure of the studio’s ambitious and courageous first project, a new IP with a rich transmedia universe.”

As its performance did not “come near” to aligning with company expectations despite “numerous timeline adjustments and investments,” Hoerdt said the follow-up project “didn’t warrant any further exploration.”

Hoerdt also revealed that where possible, colleagues impacted by the cuts will be reassigned to another unannounced project “based on an existing Badnai Namco IP, which is shaping up very well.”