Job News

Job losses at Star Trek Timelines developer Disruptor Beam

Studio to focus on character-collection and war games

Job losses at Star Trek Timelines developer Disruptor Beam

Update: Disruptor Beam CEO Jon Radoff has released the following statement about support for Game of Thrones Ascent: "To our many Game Of Thrones Ascent players and fans, let me add: We don’t anticipate making any changes to the current operation of that game. Disruptor Beam would like to keep GoTA running for as long as people want to keep playing it."

Original story: Star Trek Timelines developer Disruptor Beam has laid off around 30 to 40 staff, according to a report.

A source “familiar with the matter” has told Gamasutra that the figure accounted for as much as 30% of employees at the company. Social media reports had previously put the number of job losses at around 10 staff.

The redundancies affected numerous job roles including QA, artists, programmers, HR and more.

Refocusing efforts

Disruptor Beam CEO Jon Radoff confirmed the layoffs, though not the number of employees affected. He said the company would now be focusing on titles such as Star Trek Timelines and The Walking Dead: March to War, as well as invest in new character-collection and war games.

This suggests that the company could stop supporting its first title, Game of Thrones Ascent, which was last updated on Google Play in March 2017 and January 2017 on the App Store.

"Today’s headcount reduction reflects increased focus at Disruptor Beam,” said Radoff.

“While right-sizing is an important goal, this is not just about cutting costs. It is an opportunity to advance our strategy by focusing on two game types that we’ve had great success with: character-collection games and war games.

"Our character-collection title, Star Trek Timelines, has been a growth engine for the company, and we plan to build even further on that success. Our recently released war game, The Walking Dead: March To War, is also very promising, and we will continue to invest in it and grow our expertise in that genre. While we’re pulling back from other project areas that don't demonstrate as much potential, this increased focus sets us up for sustainable success with a strong portfolio of free-to-play mobile games. “

In February 2017 Disruptor Beam raised $8.5 million in a Series B investment round which it had planned to use to employ more staff and bolster the development of its existing games and new projects.

As part of the announcement it revealed the company had doubled its staff headcount in 2016 and grew revenues by 300%.


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Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.