Layoffs at JUMPSHIP as Thunderful ends development of Sommerville spiritual successor

Thunderful Games announced that it will be taking a new strategic approach by conducting layoffs that will also affect JUMPSHIP studio. JUMPSHIP co-founder Dino Patti also announced that the layoffs mean canceling Sommerville’s spiritual successor, codename #ThreeOne. Patti also warned other game studios not to partner with Thunderful.

Thunderful Games is a Swedish indie game studio behind Lost in Random: The Eternal Die and Planet of Lana. The studio was founded in 2019 and expanded in November 2022 by acquiring JUMPSHIP, the developer behind Sommerville. Two years later, Thunderful Games announced that it would carry out layoffs, resulting in a domino effect that affected its subsidiaries.

Dino Patti announces staff layoff at JUMPSHIP and project cancellation 

As part of a broader strategic shift, @Thunderfulgames has recently announced a series of redundancies, and I’m sad to announce that this will affect our talented team at @jumpshipstudio. The team was working on the spiritual successor to Somerville – codename #ThreeOne.

We are… pic.twitter.com/Etof1TNnoQ

— Dino Patti (@DinoPatti) November 14, 2024

Dino Patti announced that Thunderful Games would be carrying out layoffs. In the post, Patti stated that Thunderful Games was addressing redundancies in a “broader strategic shift.” the JUMPSHIP co-founder said that the layoffs would affect JUMPSHIP’s daily operations as the development team will have fewer staff members. Patti stated that negotiations with Thunderful Games about “ensuring proper redundancies” were still underway. He added that he hoped things would go in his team’s favor during the evolving situation. 

Patti also added that Thunderful Games had assured him that they would prioritize protecting employees during the transition. He went on to appeal to any hiring game studios to hire the company’s talented staff. The JUMPSHIP co-founder praised his staff and called them “world-class,” stating that he would proudly recommend them to new employers. The developers being let go were working on Sommerville’s spiritual successor, codename #ThreeOne.

Patti also revealed the status of the “codename #ThreeOne” project by revealing that Thunderful had officially canceled it. The ex-Palydead CEO gave context to the situation, saying that JUMPSHIP had been working on the project since November 2022, the same day as Sommerville’s official release. However, he did not reveal the project’s exact stage of development when canceled.

Patti cautions other game studio against partnerships with Thunderful Games 

In the same statement addressing the layoffs, Patti also addressed the nature of studio partnerships. The JUMPSHIP co-founder blatantly warned game studios against partnering with Thunderful or even publishing their games under them. He added that he’d readily support any studios that contacted him before they signed any deals and would help them avoid obstacles they would face.

“Dino I’m really sorry to hear this. I loved Somerville and we need more games like it. I also know what it’s like working with poor publishers. I wish you well and hope you can find the project a new home and keep some of the core team together.

–George Broussard

Patti‘s post elicited support from the developer community. Many of the responses wished JUMPSHIP the best and said that they were sad to see the current state of affairs. Some former Somerville development team members also responded and gave the staff a glowing review for potential employers. The ex-Playdead co-founder finished by asking other industry members who were tired of the waves of layoffs to share his post with their audiences.