Wildstar studio loses "around 60" employees in NCSoft restructure

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Wildstar developer Carbine Studios has lost "around 60" employees as part of "restructuring" by owner NCSoft. The redundancies, reported by Polygon and confirmed by NCSoft, have affected all of NCSoft's Western branches—with the exception of Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet.

Carbine, it seems, has been hit especially hard, with over sixty lay-offs across all levels of the studio.

"Today we announced a restructuring of key operations within NC West," NCSoft's statement reads. "As a result of this restructuring, we are implementing staff reductions across our Western operations with the exclusion of ArenaNet. While decisions like this are always hard, they are necessary as we begin the implementation of a new strategy designed to strengthen our footing as a leader in global entertainment."

NCSoft's statement says the publisher will continue to "focus on core development capabilities"—citing Wildstar, Aion, Lineage and Guild Wars. It goes on to say they're "looking to move into new business segments," such as mobile and tablets.

"Again, the decision to reduce staff was not an easy one, and we sincerely wish everyone well in their next endeavors."

Best of luck to all staff affected by the lay-offs.

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.