Immortals of Aveum, developed by Ascendant Studios and published under the EA Originals banner by EA, came out on August 22 across the Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5, and the PC. It sought to turn the tables on the traditional first-person shooter genre by replacing guns with an array of fantastical magic attacks. Unfortunately, less than a month after its launch, which saw a paltry amount of players log into the game, its developers are already laying off half of its staff after the game's sales fell way short of the publisher's expectations.
The initial release date was slated for July, but a postponement saw it debut in late August. This new date put it in close proximity to two other major game launches: Bethesda Game Studios' Starfield and Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3. The release of FromSoftware's Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon around the same time didn't help either.
Simply put, Immortals of Aveum, which was an entirely new property and was a passable game with steep requirements on the PC, was doomed from the start.
, the first to break the news about the layoffs, revealed that around 40 people were relieved from their roles at Ascendant Studios, as shared by CEO Bret Robbins in an official meeting. Inside sources indicated that prior to this, 80 to 100 individuals constituted the studio's workforce. The disappointing sales performance of Immortals of Aveum was identified as the main driver behind the unfortunately job cuts. The studio reportedly felt that such drastic measures were imperative to keep the organization afloat.
