Supermassive Games Delays 'Directive 8020' to 2026, Cites 'Challenging Environment' (Read: Ouch)
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Supermassive Games, the studio behind *Until Dawn*, is delaying *Directive 8020* to 2026 and laying off staff, citing a "challenging environment," which basically means it's a bit of a shambles at the moment. Hopefully, they can pull through and deliver a killer horror experience, eh?
Right, so Supermassive Games, the folks behind *Until Dawn* and the *Dark Pictures Anthology*, have dropped a bit of a bombshell. It seems their sci-fi horror project, *Directive 8020*, is getting pushed back to the first half of 2026. That's a fair hike from its originally anticipated release, innit?
But that's not all, unfortunately. Along with the delay, Supermassive also announced they're laying off up to 36 staff members. Apparently, this is all part of "adapting [their] team structure to 'better align' with 'a challenging and ever-evolving environment.'" Sounds like corporate speak for a rough patch, yeah? This comes hot on the heels of another round of layoffs back in March, where they shed around 90 workers. Ouch. According to IGN South Africa, who broke the story, that's roughly a third of their workforce gone in the last year and a half.
*Directive 8020* is meant to be a standalone entry in the *Dark Pictures Anthology*. Remember that sneaky trailer tacked onto the end of *The Devil In Me* back in 2022? That was it. Seems like things haven't exactly gone according to plan since then. They reckon the extra time will allow them to "deliver the very best experience for our fans." Which, let's be honest, is what everyone says when they delay a game. But hey, fingers crossed, eh? I'm a big fan of their branching narrative, choose-your-own-doom style of games and hope to see it continue to evolve, especially as we see more branching experiences get Web3ified with player ownership.
The *Dark Pictures Anthology* has been a bit of a mixed bag since it kicked off in 2019 with *Man of Medan*. We've had *Little Hope*, *House of Ashes*, *The Devil in Me*, and even the VR spin-off *Switchback VR*. But things have definitely slowed down. A three-year gap between entries is a fair whack. Supermassive is promising improvements to gameplay, but it also sounds like they're downplaying links to previous games, like the mysterious Curator character. Wonder what that's about?
On the bright side, it seems like the layoffs won't affect development on *Little Nightmares 3*, which is still slated for an October 10th release. So, at least there's that. Still, you can't help but feel for the folks at Supermassive. Making games is hard enough without having to deal with restructuring and layoffs. Let's hope *Directive 8020* is worth the wait and that the studio can weather this storm. Fair play to IGN South Africa for getting the scoop.
Tags: Supermassive Games, Directive 8020, Dark Pictures Anthology, Horror Games, Layoffs
Original article: IGN South Africa