FuturLab, best known as the studio behind the highly acclaimed PowerWash Simulator series, has quietly made layoffs and canceled a project it had in development.
Despite the layoffs, it has been confirmed that work will continue on PowerWash Simulator 2, as new updates and DLC content continue to be deployed.
Unfortunately, layoffs across the video game industry are all too common, but a damning report shows how executives at FuturLab tried to keep the layoffs a secret, even from unaffected employees at the studio, before it was revealed the company was undergoing a period of restructuring.
As disclosed by sources who spoke with This Week in Videogames, anonymous individuals familiar with the situation suggested that FuturLab CEO Kirsty Rigden announced the cancellation of a project that had been in development for two to three years in late June 2026. One source claimed that employees working on the project were “left hanging with no new work being assigned to them for weeks.”
Then, in late July 2026, seven employees were said to have been quietly laid off, with the rest of the team not being informed of the move. A source speaking with This Week in Videogames said, “managers and team leads were not informed that their direct reports were going to be away or why,” and that the impacted individuals simply stopped attending work without an explanation.
What’s more, one source claimed that, at a company meeting in early August 2026, FuturLab COO, Chris Mehers, informed its staff that the studio was undergoing a restructuring process. In a later meeting, staff were reportedly told not to use the term ‘redundancy’ in relation to this matter, and were instructed to call the laid-off workers ‘the leavers.’
Calling them what they are, the layoffs were due to a “recently canceled project,” and the roles weren’t required for continued work on the PowerWash Simulator series.
In a statement to This Week in Videogames, Rigden confirmed the unannounced project has been canceled and that seven employees had departed from FuturLab.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dualshockers.com/powerwash-simulator-devs-quietly-hold-layoffs-cancel-unannounced-game/
