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Cyan Worlds, one of the longest-surviving indie game companies in the world and the makers of one of the most talked-about PC classics of all time, has just laid off about half of the studio.
The developer behind Myst and Riven announced the lay offs via a social media post yesterday. "Despite our best efforts to avoid it, Cyan has made the difficult decision to reduce our overall staff size—resulting in the layoff of twelve talented staff members, roughly half the team—effective at the end of March," it wrote.
Cyan Worlds blames general "industry conditions" for the cuts as the studio's apparently had to juggle the company's long-term "future health" against the "month-to-month realities" of making games in 2025. "Throughout the past year, we have been ultra-transparent with the entire Cyan team about the choppy waters we find ourselves in, as well as the dangers ahead. While the news of a layoff was not a surprise to the team, it was (and is) still deeply saddening for all of us," it continues, before noting that affected workers are being provided with severance packages.
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"For now, our number one priority is to secure financing for our next project, and to restabilize the studio. We've been around for a very long time, and have been through tough times before. Our sincere hope is to continue to be around, and to provide the types of experiences that only Cyan can deliver."
The studio might be underplaying just how long it's been "around." Cyan was founded almost four decades ago in 1987 before creating lonely adventure game Myst, which was at the time the best-selling PC game in existence. Since then, Myst has continued to be one of the most divisive, influential, and re-released classics out there - there's even been a version for the 3DS for crying out loud.
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.
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