Remaining Lab Zero staff laid off following dev exodus

Skullgirls developer Lab Zero has laid off the remainder of its staff shortly after many members of the team departed the studio over issues with its owner Mike Zaimont.

According to Kotaku, roughly 11 developers remained at Lab Zero following the voluntary exodus but were informed on August 25 that the studio no longer had the funds to fund payroll.

“We are exploring all funding options in hopes of bringing those team members back, but right now that’s the reality,” reads a portion of Zaimont’s full statement published by Kotaku.

Indivisible creative director Mariel Cartwright, a voluntary Lab Zero departure, started selling off sketchbooks to raise money for impacted Lab Zero earlier this week, prompting Jonathan Kim, an artist among last week’s voluntary departures, to reveal via tweet that the remaining Lab Zero staff had been laid off (seemingly without severance).

Several prominent developers, including Kim and Cartwright, published statements last week announcing their departure from the studio and pinning the blame on what they described as problematic behavior and a lack of accountability from Zaimont.

Shortly after those departures, Skullgirls IP holder Autumn Games and Skullgirls mobile developer Hidden Variable announced that they would no longer work with Lab Zero itself over the accusations,  but would continue to support the games through cooperation with the departing members of Lab Zero’s Skullgirls team.