It's not uncommon to see a developer hit with layoffs after making a major release, especially when the game isn't universally acclaimed. Thief developer Edios Montreal was recently hit with a wave of unsurprising layoffs now that development on Thief has been wrapped up and the game is out for people to maybe enjoy.

"Yes it is true we've let 27 people go today, unfortunately it's something that every major studio has to do sometimes in order to ensure you have the right set up for current and future projects. It's never a nice thing to do but we are genuinely trying to offer as much support as much as we can. We're trying to re-locate as many people as possible into other roles here or at our other studios and we've been in touch several studios in Montreal to arrange a career day for those affected by this. We're very thankful for all their hard work and we sincerely wish them well."

Thief had a pretty long development cycle after being announced as Thief 4 (or Thi4f) back in 2009 and wasn't originally planned to be a 'next gen' title and it went through a bit of development hell over the past 5 years. Of course it's a shame that people have to lose their jobs, but it's to be expected. Good luck to everybody effected.