All is not well in the world of ProbablyMonsters.
CEO Harold Ryan recently told Game Developer that the studio is on the path to sustainability with its first two game releases Storm Lancers and Ire: A Prologue. Storm Lancers was touted as a specific example of a “short-term” game that could be made quickly to support larger games that require more time in development.there’s a slight issue: the story of Storm Lancers’ development is much less straightforward than it first appeared. Following our interview with Ryan, developers familiar with the project told us that the game didn’t have a “short-term” development cycle, and it was primarily made by external development studio Companion Group.
Furthermore, these sources allege that the game was largely created using assets from another canceled game that was four years in development by ProbablyMonsters’ shuttered subsidiary Battle Barge, both calling the “short-term” development claims into question and illuminating what sources describe as mismanagement within ProbablyMonsters.
That information comes from 11 former ProbablyMonsters employees and others familiar with Battle Barge,which was making a co-op multiplayer third-person shooter called “Project Vance.” The game was canceled in October 2024. Nine of the sources we spoke with requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.
ProbablyMonsters’ “Developer-First” Culture Allegedly Collapsed Before Battle Barge Shutdown
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ProbablyMonsters, a studio aiming to redefine game development with a “developer-first” approach, faced a turbulent end to its Battle Barge project and subsequent layoffs in 2024. While initially attracting talent with promises of a supportive work habitat, former employees paint a picture of a culture that rapidly deteriorated under CEO Harold Ryan’s leadership.
The studio experienced frequent upheaval even before the final shutdown. Sources report a cycle of layoffs – some developers let go, and others moved to different teams about every 6-9 months, even as new projects were regularly greenlit.
Environment artist Carol Ha-Torrez was one of the developers laid off from Battle Barge by ProbablyMonsters in 2024. She’d joined the studio after Electronic Arts laid her and dozens of other developers off from Respawn Entertainment earlier that year. She turned down an offer to transfer to EA Battlefield Studios developer Ripple effect after hearing positive word about probablymonsters’ “developer-first” culture.
By the time ProbablyMonsters shut down Battle Barge, Ha-Torez and the other former employees we spoke with said all signs of that supportive culture were gone-replaced by a chaotic workplace where Ryan allegedly surveilled employees, blamed workers behind their backs for failures outside their control, and shifted project goals at the drop of a hat.
A spokesperson for ProbablyMonsters provided the following statement in response to detailed questions sent by Game Developer about these layoffs and Ryan’s alleged behavior. “ProbablyMonsters has always been defined by the dedication, hard work, and creativity of its teams,” thay stated. “In recent years, the gaming industry has been constantly evolving, and building a company in this environment means facing tough choices with no easy answers. Those choices require balancing the immediate needs of our people while understanding the impact they can have.”
“Simultaneously occurring,we have a responsibility to keep the company healthy for the long term. We believe being responsible isn’t just about getting everything right in the moment. It’s about staying true to our mission of supporting lasting careers in game development.We know this work is never simple, and we work hard every day to learn, adjust, and improve.”
“Through it all, our priority has remained the same: respecting employees for their contributions and treating them fairly, including giving credits to teams past and present who contribute to our projects. Building a supportive culture has always been central to who we are, and we’re focused on making ProbablyMonsters a place where teams can do their best creative work.”
battle Barge’s headcount and direction shifted overnight
In our previous conversation with Ryan, the ProbablyMonsters CEO stated that the company “looked at” the possibility of turning its canceled live service games into standalone premium titles. But Battle Barge’s final voyage was far more dramatic.
Storm Lancers and Layoff Concerns at ProbablyMonsters
“The credits for the game reflect the contributions of many teams involved in its development. We respect the work of all teams, past and present, and those contributions are acknowledged in the credits.”
[Image via ProbablyMonsters: The credits of Storm Lancers, which include employees of ProbablyMonsters and Companion Group.]
Game Developer reviewed a recording of the Zoom call where laid-off workers demanded to know why there had been no layoff notification as required by the WARN Act. The WARN Act mandates that eligible employers issue advance notice of layoffs if an office or plant is being shuttered, resulting in 50 or more full-time employees losing their jobs. Approximately 54 people had joined the Zoom call.
Ha-Torrez and others said it felt like the company planned layoffs and project changes to avoid issuing these notices. said strategy is “very common” among employers said KUSK Law partner Don McGowan, an external legal expert consulted during this reporting. When asked if the strategy is legal, he said he doesn’t feel it’s consistent with “the obligations the law places on employers.”
On the recorded call,ProbablyMonsters associate general counsel Kristen Daniels repeatedly stressed that the number of laid-off employees did not cross the mandated threshold. “We’ve done the math very carefully,” she said.
QA employees were regularly in the crosshairs
According to our sources, like former test lead Douglas martin, the chaos and confusion at the heart of ProbablyMonsters came from Ryan himself and the cadre of former Bungie colleagues and close friends who staffed his C-suite. ryan’s erratic behavior apparently impacted probablymonsters’ centralized QA team well before the shift in direction for Project Vance.
In 2022 he ordered all QA employees to return to the office full-time, even those hired remotely or who were working with remote teams. Some testers lived hours away from the studio. Martin said Ryan was only in the office himself one or two days a week.
He recalled a meeting where Ryan explained to QA testers why they would not receive any additional compensation for having to commute into the office (despite the additional expenses some would incur). “You guys are already paid at the top of the market. You can afford to commute,” he said.
Martin said that seemed to be true-until the shutdown of Cauldron in 2023. Multiple sources told Game Developer that the troubles at the company started around this time. The former test lead alleged that Martin was surrounded by close allies who enabled his behavior while behaving just as badly themselves. “There’s a lot of people working with Harold who are enabling him and doing the same thing,” he said.
During this period of tumult,ProbablyMonsters greenlit new projects and hired developers to work on them,only to reverse course without public fanfare,including one from a team called “Icaro” that was internally announced in July 2024,only to be canceled in December of that year.
Sources described multiple occasions where developers interviewed at the company, only to have their offer letters rescinded or put on hold at Ryan’s direction. one prospective employee reportedly moved to Washington state to work in-office and leased an apartment only for Ryan to “nuke” her position and rescind her offer letter days before she started.
Character models, 2D art, and shaders from project Vance are visible across Storm Lancers. Image via ProbablyMonsters.
Multiple sources also claimed that ryan surveilled employees. He issued regular warnings about remote workers taking any time away from their desks, despite Battle Barge leadership previously stating employees were free to manage their own time and make up work later in the day if needed.
Ryan apparently issued these warnings after joining the Battle Barge “AFK” Slack channel where workers would drop notices about their status. He denied internal rumors at the time that he was monitoring employees in a company-wide Slack message reviewed by Game developer. In it, he claimed these rumors had driven developers to “make up” work filed in project management tool Jira.
Sources also said Ryan and other members of senior leadership regularly disparaged colleagues behind their backs. “He loves to talk shit,” said a former QA tester when describing said comments.Ryan allegedly verbally disparaged Project Vance around some employees, and word of his displeasure with the game spread through the studio.
Here’s a breakdown of the key information from the provided text, focusing on the issues at ProbablyMonsters and specifically Firewalk Studios:
Firewalk Studios & Concord – A Cautionary Tale:
* Firewalk Studios CEO’s Commentary: Following the shutdown of Firewalk, the CEO sent Slack messages to ProbablyMonsters employees. He stated that the failure of concord (another game) demonstrated the dangers of “building for yourself vs your audience.” He also bluntly said that the team “refused to listen for years.”
* Emphasis on Audience vs. Self: This suggests a core issue was a disconnect between the developers’ vision and what players actually wanted.
Problems with ProbablyMonsters’ Leadership & Culture (Ryan’s Behavior):
* Broken Promises: CEO Ryan made promises of a positive workplace culture – specifically, avoiding the pitfalls of tough cultures, unpredictable compensation, and unstable employment. These promises were not kept. A welcome letter from Ryan explicitly stated this commitment.
* Unsustainable Practices: The outsourcing of Storm Lancers and reliance on old assets (Project Vance) were seen as red flags. Ryan presented a model of fast, sustainable game development, but developers doubted its viability.
* Layoffs & Instability: Chaotic layoffs across multiple studios (Cauldron, iron, Hidden Grove, and Battle Barge) further eroded trust in Ryan’s vision of sustainability.
* “Not real” Vision: Developers felt Ryan’s idea of “short-term” games funding larger projects was unrealistic and wouldn’t work for employees long-term.
* Ignoring Feedback: The CEO’s Slack messages after Firewalk’s closure suggest a pattern of dismissing input from the development teams.
In essence, the text paints a picture of a company led by a CEO who made promises of a positive and sustainable work environment, but whose actions and decisions contradicted those promises, ultimately leading to studio closures and widespread developer disillusionment.