TORONTO — Indie game studio Rongo has moved up in the industry as it is now being classified as a AAA studio after 50% of the staff have been laid off.
Rongo founder and CEO Hunter Bishop excitedly announced the upgrade to the studio.
“It’s every indie studio’s dream to one day become a AAA juggernaut. Some studios go decades without ever growing past Indie and my team is so talented I knew they deserved to become known as AAA devs as quickly as possible,” explained Bishop. “In the old days you would have to toil away for years making games of increasing budget and scope but these days all the AAA studios seem to do is lay people off so I just copied that. As soon as I finished cutting off people’s fobs to get in the building my inbox was flooded by other AAA CEOs congratulating me on guiding my studio to the next level. Phil Spencer even sent me a lovely fruit basket.”
Bishop explained that the rationale behind the move was to reward his dev team.
“This studio wouldn’t be where it is without the talent and passion of everyone who worked here for so long. I wouldn’t be where I am without them. It is those devs who got my studio to where it is now and I wish them all well in their future endeavors.”
Employees were caught off guard by the layoffs but were happy to see the studio reach the next level.
“When I came into work and my fob wasn’t working I feared the worst,” said character artist John Lowry. “So many of us were just unceremoniously let go at once that I really thought we got bought out by Embracer or Microsoft. But once I heard that our lay offs led to the studio becoming AAA I was relieved. I’ve been here since day one and always dreamed of one day being AAA, I’m glad it finally happened. Sucks it happened this way but I’m sure I’ll get another job, game dev is a pretty stable industry.”
At press time, Bishop is planning on introducing sexual harassment to the studio to further solidify its AAA status.
