Overview
- Kwalee Labs announced that its nine-person development team was made redundant, with CEO Hollie Emery posting the news and linking to affected staff profiles on Tuesday, June 16.
- Luna Abyss launched on May 21, 2026 and earned generally positive notices, including about an 81 Metacritic critics score and roughly 86 percent positive reviews on Steam.
- Emery described the decision as “completely outside of our control” but offered no detailed explanation and Kwalee the publisher has not provided further public comment.
- The game remains on sale and available through Game Pass, and multiple outlets note that day-one inclusion on Game Pass can hide player and sales data that typically help judge a title's commercial performance.
- Reporters place the closure in the context of wider industry instability, the nine named developers are now seeking work, and the case raises questions about how platform deals and opaque metrics affect small studios' survival.