The mass layoffs at Epic Games, which resulted in the company firing over a thousand employees, have sparked a strong reaction in the industry — especially after comments from the company's head, Tim Sweeney. However, the harshest reaction to the situation came from Larian Studios.
After the announcement of the layoffs, Sweeney stated that the labor market would soon be filled with "unique-level specialists", emphasizing that the company had not lowered its hiring standards, meaning that former Epic employees are among the best in the industry. Formally, this looked like an attempt to support those laid off, but such rhetoric caused irritation in the professional community.
Larian Studios' Director of Publishing Michael Douse was particularly harsh. He characterized Sweeney's words as an attempt to "repackage" the layoff situation, noting that it sounds like: "I didn't fire a thousand people — I flooded the market with unique talent." In his opinion, this wording is an example of "verbal acrobatics" and "corporate rot", which indicates a detachment from the real state of affairs in the industry.
