Ethan Crossfield 
Less than a month after launching its cosmic horror shooter, Kwalee Labs has reportedly laid off its entire development team—an abrupt end that raises questions about the studio’s stability just as Luna Abyss begins finding its audience.
What happened
Luna Abyss launched on May 21 and initially landed with a generally positive reception. However, the studio behind it, Kwalee Labs, has now let go all of its employees.
According to the company’s CEO, Hollie Emery, the redundancies became effective Monday, June 16. Emery shared the update via a LinkedIn post, saying the decision left the studio’s small team of nine without roles. While she did not provide a specific explanation for why the layoffs occurred, she characterized the outcome as something “outside” the studio’s control.
Despite the job cuts, Emery also emphasized the response Luna Abyss received from both the industry and critics, framing the release as a career highlight for the team. She thanked those who supported the project and expressed pride that the game had reached players.
For players, Luna Abyss is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. In the game, players control a prisoner tasked with exploring a derelict megastructure beneath the surface of a moon called Luna, combining first-person shooter combat with cosmic horrors and bullet-hell-style action alongside traversal and mobility.
Why it matters
This kind of all-hands layoff shortly after launch is a major industry signal: it suggests that even when a game performs well enough to earn positive early attention, the business realities around development and publishing can still overwhelm the studio.
The source also notes that Luna Abyss is currently tracking positively with critics, including an 81 score on Metacritic and an endorsement from Game Informer editor-in-chief Matt Miller in a recent impressions piece. In other words, the shutdown isn’t being reported as a purely creative failure—at least not in the framing provided by the CEO.
For the players, the immediate concern is continuity: when the entire development team is removed, future support—whether that means updates, balance changes, or new content—can become uncertain. The source does not specify what happens to the studio’s ongoing plans, so any expectations for post-launch work should be treated cautiously.
For the broader scene, the situation underlines how quickly momentum can shift. Luna Abyss has established itself as a cosmic horror shooter with traversal-forward combat and bullet-hell flourishes, but the human side of the project appears to have been abruptly disrupted.
What to watch next
With Kwalee Labs’ team reportedly gone, the next phase for Luna Abyss will likely be shaped by who takes responsibility for future operations—whether that’s remaining internal staff, external support, or other stakeholders stepping in.
Players and fans should watch for any official communication about post-launch plans, especially anything that clarifies whether support will continue and how. Since the CEO did not cite a direct reason for the layoffs, follow-up statements may shed more light on what “outside control” means in practical terms.
Finally, job seekers connected to the studio’s nine-person team will be looking closely at the industry’s response. If Luna Abyss’ critical reception continues to translate into player interest, it could still generate new opportunities for those affected—but the studio’s immediate chapter appears to be over.
Practical takeaways
- If you’re playing Luna Abyss now, keep an eye on official updates that confirm what support will look like after the layoffs.
- Treat long-term expectations cautiously: the source doesn’t detail post-launch plans following the entire team’s redundancy.
- The game’s early critical reception (including an 81 on Metacritic) doesn’t guarantee ongoing studio stability—business factors can dominate.
- For industry watchers, this is a reminder to monitor studio health closely, not just launch-day reviews and impressions.
Expert View
Kwalee Labs’ decision to remove an entire nine-person team less than a month after Luna Abyss launched is the kind of event that shakes player confidence more than any single review. Even with respectable critical momentum, the studio’s capacity to sustain a live product now looks fragile—meaning the real test for Luna Abyss won’t just be how it plays on day one, but whether meaningful support can continue after the people who built it are gone.
