{"id":1994955,"date":"2026-06-17T11:44:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1994955"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:44:05","slug":"kwalee-lays-off-the-entire-luna-abyss-development-team-as-one-of-this-years-overlooked-bullet-hell-games-falls-victim-to-an-overcrowded-release-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1994955","title":{"rendered":"Kwalee lays off the entire Luna Abyss development team as one of this year&#8217;s overlooked bullet-hell games falls victim to an overcrowded release schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/luna-abyss\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Luna Abyss<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Kwalee lays off the entire Luna Abyss development team as one of this year&#8217;s overlooked bullet-hell games falls victim to an overcrowded release schedule<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;Thanks for your endless support.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/scigwt.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Luna Abyss - combat encounter\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"scigwt.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Kwalee<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-06-17T11:44:05+00:00\">June 17, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/luna-abyss-developer-kwalee-labs-layoffs?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          8 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"2c63832d-b07b-4f2a-b174-23b94cbdaca4\" data-name=\"Luna Abyss\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Luna Abyss\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Luna Abyss\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Luna Abyss\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Luna Abyss\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Luna Abyss\" title=\"Follow Luna Abyss\"><br \/>\n  Follow Luna Abyss<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>May was a remarkably busy month for high-profile game releases, which could explain why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/videos\/luna-abyss-official-launch-trailer\">Luna Abyss<\/a>&#8216; launch went relatively unnoticed on PC and current-gen consoles. It&#8217;s a sci-fi bullet-hell shooter that seemed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/game\/luna-abyss\/\">review pretty well<\/a>, but despite that, the entire development team at Kwalee Labs has been laid off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/hollie-emery-074a625b_hey-folks-i-have-some-sad-news-from-the-share-7472658276480946177-QHk2\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAADFAsRABhOsYZ5gi1rHJt8siTTjfHP2Sa-k\">Kwalee Labs CEO Hollie Emery announced the news on LinkedIn<\/a>, revealing that the entire team has been made redundant following a decision that was &#8220;completely outside of their control&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Luna Abyss &#8211; Official Launch Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sBdlwfaZzIM\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re enamoured by the love and support [Luna Abyss]  received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media,&#8221; Emery wrote. &#8220;Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers &#8211; and we are incredibly proud that it has finally seen the light of day (thank you to everyone who believed in us!).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately as of yesterday, the entire team has been made redundant; a decision that was completely outside of our control. As a result, the entire team are available for work as of today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Luna Abyss currently has a &#8216;very positive&#8217; user rating on Steam after 599 reviews, though its all-time peak concurrent player count 23 days ago was just 317 people. Given that, it&#8217;s likely the game simply hasn&#8217;t hit Kwalee&#8217;s internal performance targets. Sales figures haven&#8217;t been shared, though, and it did also launch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-game-pass-may\">straight into Game Pass<\/a> via Xbox, Cloud, and PC. UK-based publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kwalee.com\/\">Kwalee<\/a> is still heavily featuring Luna Abyss on its website at the time of writing, by the way.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Luna Abyss follows Fawkes, &#8220;a prisoner of Luna caught between a cryptic prophecy and their prison sentence&#8221;, in a single-player, first-person action-adventure with substantial platforming sections and dazzling bullet-hell battles. Having played through most of it, I&#8217;ve found it one of 2026&#8217;s most hard-hitting action romps so far, with inventive level design and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/metroid-prime\">Metroid Prime<\/a>-inspired shooting impressing even before you get to the horror-inspired art direction. I think there&#8217;s something there for those who believe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/saros-review\">Saros<\/a> would&#8217;ve been better as an action game without roguelite elements.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>May was a remarkably busy month for high-profile game releases, which could explain why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/videos\/luna-abyss-official-launch-trailer\">Luna Abyss<\/a>&#8216; launch went relatively unnoticed on PC and current-gen consoles. It&#8217;s a sci-fi bullet-hell shooter that seemed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/game\/luna-abyss\/\">review pretty well<\/a>, but despite that, the entire development team at Kwalee Labs has been laid off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/hollie-emery-074a625b_hey-folks-i-have-some-sad-news-from-the-share-7472658276480946177-QHk2\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAADFAsRABhOsYZ5gi1rHJt8siTTjfHP2Sa-k\">Kwalee Labs CEO Hollie Emery announced the news on LinkedIn<\/a>, revealing that the entire team has been made redundant following a decision that was &#8220;completely outside of their control&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Luna Abyss &#8211; Official Launch Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sBdlwfaZzIM\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re enamoured by the love and support [Luna Abyss]  received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media,&#8221; Emery wrote. &#8220;Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers &#8211; and we are incredibly proud that it has finally seen the light of day (thank you to everyone who believed in us!).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately as of yesterday, the entire team has been made redundant; a decision that was completely outside of our control. As a result, the entire team are available for work as of today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Luna Abyss currently has a &#8216;very positive&#8217; user rating on Steam after 599 reviews, though its all-time peak concurrent player count 23 days ago was just 317 people. Given that, it&#8217;s likely the game simply hasn&#8217;t hit Kwalee&#8217;s internal performance targets. Sales figures haven&#8217;t been shared, though, and it did also launch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-game-pass-may\">straight into Game Pass<\/a> via Xbox, Cloud, and PC. UK-based publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kwalee.com\/\">Kwalee<\/a> is still heavily featuring Luna Abyss on its website at the time of writing, by the way.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Luna Abyss follows Fawkes, &#8220;a prisoner of Luna caught between a cryptic prophecy and their prison sentence&#8221;, in a single-player, first-person action-adventure with substantial platforming sections and dazzling bullet-hell battles. Having played through most of it, I&#8217;ve found it one of 2026&#8217;s most hard-hitting action romps so far, with inventive level design and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/metroid-prime\">Metroid Prime<\/a>-inspired shooting impressing even before you get to the horror-inspired art direction. I think there&#8217;s something there for those who believe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/saros-review\">Saros<\/a> would&#8217;ve been better as an action game without roguelite elements.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Luna Abyss Kwalee lays off the entire Luna Abyss development team as one of this year&#8217;s overlooked bullet-hell games falls victim to an overcrowded release schedule &#8220;Thanks for your endless support.&#8221; Image credit: Kwalee News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on June 17, 2026 8 comments Follow Luna Abyss May was a remarkably [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1994955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1994955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1994955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1994955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1994955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}