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Developer ATMTA of ambitious space trading and combat game Star Atlas has announced a significant restructuring that will reduce its headcount to 45 from a post-FTX level of 167. Prior to the crypto exchange going bust in November 2022 and taking $15 million of the company’s cash with it, ATMTA had 235 staff.
In that context, the developer has lost 81% of its staff in the past nine months.
Announced in 2020, Star Atlas gained prominence as one of the high profile games on the Solana blockchain. The relative decline of Solana in terms of the general crypto winter and specifically in terms of FTX — which was a heavy backer of Solana — has massively impacted the developer, however.
The complexity of the original project — which is similar in scope to EVE Online or Star Citizen — has also been a contributing factor.
However, ATMTA CEO Michael Wagner has stated he believes the reduced team will be “fully capable of delivering on our prioritized products”.
As stated, the focus of the team will now be on small game components such as its SAGE browser-based experience and the newly announced move-to-earn Crew Mobile app. It will also continue its CORE graphic novel series.
In this way, the restructure should give ATMTA over a year of runway. Wagner also hopes that this restructuring will encourage VCs to invest into a more focused and more efficient company which over time will be able to scale up to regain its original vision over time.
You can read the full statement on the Star Atlas Discord.