Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine has laid off the majority of staff
Indie studio Heart Machine has laid off the majority of its staff after a publisher pulled funding for an unannounced title. Studio founder Alex Preston announced the devastating news on LinkedIn, stating that the loss of this key income has made the studio's survival uncertain. This follows previous layoffs in November 2024 and October 2025, with the studio's earlier title, Hyper Light Breaker, being cut before it left early access.
- Entities
- Game: Hyper Light Drifter
- Topic: Layoffs
- Person: Alex Preston
- Topic: Game Development
- Company: Heart Machine
- Game: Hyper Light Breaker
This article was reported and published by gamedeveloper.com. feed.gg links to it as part of a story cluster — full text, images and rights remain with the publisher.