Elite: Dangerous dev lays off 15 employees

15 content creation roles (out of a headcount of 281) at the Cambridge studios of Frontier Developments has been cut. This according to a recent investor update published on Frontier's website.

This means, that 15 employees has been laid off a little over a month after the launch of the freeform space simulation Elite: Dangerous. This isn't unusual in this business as some of these might simply be contract-freelancers.

It seems though like this is a case of simply increasing focus on fewer franchises. According to the update, Frontier plans to shift its focus entirely to Elite: Dangerous and the Coaster Park Tycoon franchise.

The developer studio states:

"With its business emphasis now on two major self-published franchises, Elite: Dangerous and Coaster Park Tycoon, Frontier is re-focusing its development activities in Cambridge where the expertise in these franchises lies.  Development roles are being moved from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Cambridge, and the overall staffing mix will be changed to match the needs of these two projects."

You may have noticed that there's little mention of ScreamRide - the other rollercoaster management sim Frontier are readying for release on Xbox One on March 3. It's entirely possible that development has wrapped up, and the team is likely closely related to Coaster Park Tycoon anyway.