With all the job cuts and studio closures, 2023 has been a rough year for developers of all sizes. Danish indie team Triple Topping has unfortunately joined the list, announcing that it had to lay off its entire workforce.
Dead Pets Unleashed
On December 8, Triple Topping CEO Astrid Refstrup published a statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying that the the studio was declared bankrupt, “making the entire team redundant.”
“While 2023 has been an incredible difficult year across the industry, my own personal health has also not made me fit for being the CEO and leader I inspired to be,” Refstrup wrote.
“Running a studio is a privilege, a power position an enormous responsibility, and for this last year I was not able to live up to that without consequence to the team I was leading,” she continued. “For the team and partners of the studio: I’m sorry.”
Refstrup also shared a spreadsheet with the list of employees, their roles, and CVs, in case anyone could help them in finding a new place.
An update on Triple Topping, which, sadly, no longer exists. I have crafted the “official” statement below.
I added details on how to support the team in the thread. pic.twitter.com/NayjaBrfvX
— AstridMie (@Astridmrefstrup) December 8, 2023
Dubbed a “feminist game company,” Triple Topping was founded in 2017 by Refstrup and Simon Stålhandske. It was also pretty transparent about its work conditions, having publicly shared its contract and employee handbook on its website.
The studio is best known for its story-driven adventure title Welcome to Elk and colorful side-scrolling platformer Ynglet. Prior to the closure, the team was working on Dead Pets Unleashed, a narrative-heavy project about a struggling punk rock band with a focus on various management and rhytm mini-games. However, it is still expected to see the light of the day, as “good plans are being made [for our games] and will be shared when ready.”
2023 has been a horrible year for games industry workers, with several news about mass layoffs or studio closures appearing every week. Earlier this month, Jumplight Odyssey developer League of Geeks cut 50% of its staff due to the game’s poor Early Access sales and lack of funding.
According to videogamelayoffs.com, at least 9,000 people have been laid off. The list of game studios and publishers affected by the job cuts includes BioWare, CD Projekt, Epic Games, Team17, Telltale Games, Daedalic, Bungie, Media Molecule, and more.