Thick as Thieves Studio OtherSide Entertainment Hit by New Round of Layoffs

OtherSide Entertainment has confirmed another wave of layoffs, cutting 18 employees from the team behind its recently released heist game Thick as Thieves. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the Boston-based studio said continuing operations “in its current shape is no longer a commercially viable path,” despite a promising reception to the game’s introductory content following its May launch.

Studio Reduced to a Skeleton Crew

The cuts leave fewer than ten employees remaining at OtherSide Entertainment, according to the report. Those who remain will reportedly focus solely on performance maintenance for Thick as Thieves, with a studio spokesperson stating there are “currently no plans for the studio to work on any future games.”

Thick as Thieves was published by Megabit, a label under Aonic Group, which acquired OtherSide back in 2023. The studio told Game Developer, as cited by GamesIndustry.biz, that it was “deeply grateful to the team for their superb work” and regretted the outcome “having pursued every alternative to find a preferable solution.”

Second Round of Cuts in as Many Months

This latest reduction follows a separate round of layoffs just last month, when 17 employees were let go after OtherSide cancelled an in-development project codenamed Argos. GamesIndustry.biz reports the studio described the wider industry climate as “brutally challenging,” which rendered Argos “unviable for now.”

Together, the two rounds of layoffs have significantly hollowed out a studio that once carried a notable pedigree in the immersive sim genre. OtherSide Entertainment was founded in 2014 by Paul Neurath, a figure closely associated with the System Shock and Ultima Underworld legacy.

A Studio With a Complicated Recent History

OtherSide’s fortunes have been turbulent in recent years. In 2020, Tencent acquired the rights to the studio’s System Shock intellectual property, a deal that was followed by a previous round of layoffs at the time, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

With no further titles currently planned and staffing reduced to single digits, the future of OtherSide Entertainment as an active development studio now appears uncertain. The outlet notes that the remaining team’s mandate is limited to keeping Thick as Thieves running rather than pursuing new projects.