"OtherSide's DNA is built on immersive sim games that have lengthy development cycles," a studio representative said. "This, unfortunately, has been an increasingly challenging space to occupy in recent years."
That statement, bleak as it reads, is now the clearest summary of where OtherSide Entertainment stands. The studio behind Thick as Thieves has completed a second round of layoffs in the span of two weeks, cutting 18 more employees and leaving fewer than 10 people still working there. A studio representative confirmed that those remaining are focused on updates for Thick as Thieves, and that there are “currently no plans for the studio to work on any future games.”
Get 1-month GTA+ subscription with pre-order.
Pre-Order GTA 6 Now
Thirty-five jobs gone in two weeks
The timeline here is brutal. Just two weeks before this latest round, OtherSide cut 17 staff following the cancellation of a separate project internally codenamed Argos. Now 18 more are gone. That is 35 people out the door in a fortnight, leaving a studio that once had ambitions for a full immersive sim revival operating with a skeleton crew.
The representative's statement did not sugarcoat the situation: despite what they described as an encouraging response to Thick as Thieves' launch, continuing the studio "in its current shape is no longer a commercially viable path."
How Thick as Thieves got here
Here's the thing: Thick as Thieves had problems that went beyond the genre's niche appeal. The game launched after a direction change that will have frustrated a portion of its potential audience before they even loaded it up. Originally announced as a PvPvE experience, OtherSide pivoted to a singleplayer and two-player co-op focus shortly before release. That kind of late-stage identity shift is hard to recover from in terms of community trust.
The game itself launched at $5, a price point OtherSide hoped would lower the barrier to entry and build an audience large enough to fund ongoing content development. The logic was sound on paper. The execution, though, produced a game with roughly four hours of content at launch, and certain mechanics, particularly the mission time limits and exit countdowns, landed poorly with players who wanted a modern successor to the Thief series. Steam player counts never reflected the kind of sustained engagement the studio needed.
For fans who picked it up and wanted to get more out of it, our Thick as Thieves beginner's guide covering stealth, gadgets, and all 16 missions is still the best place to start. And if you want to squeeze every advantage out of the tools available, the Thick as Thieves gadgets tier list for Ghost runs breaks down every loadout option from S-tier to skip.
The immersive sim problem, and why it keeps mattering
Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick put it plainly earlier this year: immersive sims appeal to "a very small, niche group" and tend not to generate the numbers that publishers and investors expect. That is not a new observation, but it keeps proving true. Warren Spector, one of the original architects of the genre through Deus Ex and the original Thief games, co-founded OtherSide specifically to keep that tradition alive. The fact that even his studio could not make it work commercially says something uncomfortable about where the market is right now.
OtherSide's previous game, Underworld Ascendant, also struggled. Two swings at the immersive sim revival, two commercial disappointments. The genre has a devoted fanbase, but devoted does not always mean large enough to sustain a studio through a multi-year development cycle.
What comes next for the game and its players
OtherSide has not confirmed a closure date or announced that Thick as Thieves will stop receiving support imminently. The remaining staff are still working on the game, which at minimum suggests updates are still coming in the near term. What that looks like beyond the next few weeks is genuinely unclear.
For players who have been holding off on picking it up, the $5 price point makes it a low-risk way to experience what OtherSide built, even with its limitations. The game has real moments of quality, particularly for anyone who values stealth mechanics and gadget-based problem solving. Our full library of gaming guides covers the game if you want to get the most out of what is there.
The broader picture is harder to sit with. Thirty-five people lost jobs in two weeks. A studio founded by two legends of the immersive sim genre is now operating with fewer staff than most small indie teams. The genre needs more voices, not fewer.
