Daybreak Game Company snaps up Palia dev Singularity 6 amid financial struggles and layoffs
Daybreak Game Company, a subsidiary of Swedish holding company EG7, has announced a new M&A deal. The publisher has purchased indie studio Singularity 6, known for its online life sim Palia.
Palia
What happened?
Singularity 6 will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Daybreak Game Company, the parties announced on July 1. The financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed, but the studio will retain its creative independence and direction.
Co-founders Anthony Leung and Aidan Karabaich will continue to lead Singularity 6 with the support from Daybreak CEO Ji Ham.
“S6 is an excellent addition to our development studios, renowned for their success in creating large-scale online games and content,” Ham said in a statement. “Their debut title, Palia, is a fantastic addition to our online portfolio.”
According to Singularity 6, the expanded resources will allow the team to bring Palia to its 1.0 launch, saying that “we’ll continue investing in the development and exploration of new and innovative ideas in the online multiplayer cozy community sim genre.”
Launch of Palia and layoffs at Singularity 6
Founded in 2018 by Riot Games veterans, Singularity 6 has raised almost $49 million through multiple rounds. Its debut game, Palia, launched in open beta on PC last August, arriving on Nintendo Switch later that year.
In March 2024, the game released on Steam, receiving mostly positive reviews (79% positive) and eventually peaking at just over 12k concurrent players. According to SteamDB, it reached its new all-time high of 12,607 CCU on June 30.
Palia has reached over 4 million players (it is free-to-play) since its launch and currently has over 100k daily active users. Despite solid numbers, Singularity 6 faced some financial struggles this year, forcing to lay off 35% of its workforce in April.
In May, the studio reduced its staff by another 40%. According to Game Industry Layoffs, the total number of layoffs reached around 85 employees.
“Following Palia’s release on Steam, we evaluated the support needed to deliver the highest-quality gameplay service for long-term stability,” Singularity 6 told IGN following the first round of layoffs.
Who is Daybreak Game Company?
Originally established as Sony Online Entertainment, Daybreak Game Company has been developing and publishing games since 1997. In December 2020, it was acquired by EG7 for $300 million.
Daybreak focuses primarily on online titles, with its portfolio including games such as EverQuest 1-2, PlanetSide 2, DC Universe Online, H1Z1, and The Lord of the Rings Online.
