Hi-Rez Studios Conducts Another Layoff, Only Executive Positions Were Affected

Hi-Rez Studios has laid off an unspecified number of executive employees. The studio did not announce the layoffs, which were only brought to light when a former Hi-Rez developer, Thor, posted about it on X.

After someone screenshotted the tweet and posted it on Reddit, Smite 2 executive producer Alex “Killgoon” Cantatore finally confirmed it. According to him, only a few people were affected. Here are the ones Cantatore confirmed to have been laid off:

• Stewart Chisam – president at Hi-Rez
• Travis Brown – executive producer at Hi-Rez
• Radar – senior staff
• Two unnamed senior management employees at Rally Here

Stewart Chisam has made his announcement on LinkedIn, saying that he’s excited about “future things to work on that I have my passion around.” He added that Hi-Rez Studios had a lot of trouble in the last few years and “certainly not everything has worked out as we hoped.”

Cantatore also mentioned that it was he who made the decision not to make a statement regarding the layoffs. The board’s rationale regarding the layoffs was that “the company had a lot of senior management in relation to our current size.”  Cantatore will take over and handle the day-to-day general management of the studio.

He reassured Smite 2 fans that the development of the game will continue and that he still believes in the game. He added that the developers are just getting to the point where the core gameplay is becoming solid, which means that they can focus on other things they need to grow.

In February 2025, Hi-Rez laid off several employees and halted the development of Smite, Paladins, and Rogue Company. After the layoff, the studio had the remaining team focus only on the development of Smite 2.