Thief developer Eidos Montreal laid off 27 employees today, the developer confirmed. The studio just launched its reboot of the the Thief series in late February, and opted to make cuts after turning its attention to future projects.

"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," Eidos Montreal said in a statement to IGN. "It's never a nice thing to do but we are genuinely trying to offer as much support as much as we can."

The developer said it is "trying to re-locate as many people as possible into other roles here or at our other studios" in order to soften the blow to its employees. Additionally, it is looking to arrange a career day with other studios on Montreal. "We're very thankful for all their hard work and we sincerely wish them well," the developer added.

Whether initial commercial reception for the developer's latest game has anything to do with its decision to carry on with fewer employees is unclear. We can say that while reviews for Thief varied considerably, we found the game to be worthy of four stars in our review. [Image: Eidos Montreal]