Until Dawn Developer Blames ‘Challenging and Ever-Evolving Environment’ as It Announces Layoffs, Delays Long-Awaited Next Horror Game Directive 8020 Until 2026
Supermassive Games, developer of Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures Anthology horror series, has said it will lay off up to 36 staff in a fresh wave of redundancies.
In a statement published to the studio’s social media this afternoon, Supermassive also confirmed a delay to its long-awaited sci-fi horror project Directive 8020, which will now arrive in “the first half of 2026”.
Announcing the studio’s job losses, Supermassive said it had been forced to adapt its team structure to “better align” with “a challenging and ever-evolving environment” in which to make games. The cuts follow an earlier round of redundancies in March 2024, when the developer said it would shed around 90 workers in a similarly-worded statement.
Supermassive previously stated it had around 350 employees as of 2023, meaning it has laid off around a third of the studio over the past 18 months.
“We remain focused on our upcoming projects and have made the decision to move the launch of Directive 8020 to the first half of 2026,” Supermassive said. “The response to the game so far has been fantastic, and this additional time will help us deliver the very best experience for our fans. We’re deeply grateful for the patience and support of our community.”
A standalone entry in Supermassive’s Dark Pictures Anthology, Directive 8020 was one of a list of apparently-upcoming entries in the series spotted back in early 2022. The game was then made official later that year, in a trailer included at the end of The Dark Pictures: The Devil In Me. Three years on, however, and fans are still waiting to play it.
A statement from Supermassive Games. pic.twitter.com/Vom1CSGYGs
— Supermassive Games (@SuperMGames) July 22, 2025
The Dark Pictures Anthology kicked off in 2019 with spooky boat mystery Man of Medan, before 2020 historical horror Little Hope, and then 2021’s Iraq-set House of Ashes. Next up was the murder hotel-inspired The Devil in Me in 2022, before then the virtual reality spin-off Switchback VR a year later.
Since then, progress on further entries in the series appears to have slowed, with Directive 8020 now set to arrive at least three years after the franchise’s previous entry, and positioned as a more standalone title. Supermassive has said it has used the extra time to improve the franchise’s gameplay, though links to previous games — such as via the mysterious recurring character of the Curator — sound like they’ll be played down.
In the meantime, Supermassive will continue working on its delayed Little Nightmares 3, currently set to launch on October 10. Development on this project is unaffected by today’s layoffs, the studio has confirmed.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
