WildStar Chinese Version Cancelled, Layoffs at Carbine

With a short forum post, an employee at Carbine Studios announced that the Chinese version of their MMO WildStar has been cancelled, and that as a result the studio will have to go through some layoffs. The employee promises the company is still committed to the game, though obviously this isn’t the kind of news that can be sugarcoated:

Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updating WildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.

Unfortunately, as a result of these changes, we’ve had to reduce staff. These cuts are directly tied to WildStar’s evolution from a product in development to a live title, to the cancellation of work to bring WildStar to China, and to the overall performance of WildStar since launch in 2014.

Polygon claims to have access to sources that paint a significantly more negative picture for the company. According to them, around 40% of the company’s workforce has been laid off, and the remaining staff has been warned that there might be more workforce cuts coming. In contrast with the official statement, Polygon also claims that one source informed them that WildStar will be abandoned:

However, reports Polygon has received from sources close to the studio paint a grimmer picture. While NCSoft’s statement didn’t provide exact numbers, we were told that more than 70 people have been let go from Carbine, as much as 40 percent of the studio’s total workforce. Furthermore, sources tell us it was made clear to remaining employees that they should expect additional layoffs in the coming months.

“Those remaining only have a couple months left before Wildstar ‘coasts into the sunset,'” one source told us. All of the sources we spoke with asked to remain anonymous.

Thanks, Eurogamer.