Over 40 members of staff at Homeworld 3 developer Blackbird Interactive are being laid off.

As spotted by Twitter user bogorad222, the news was first broken by technical artist James Marshall, who posted on LinkedIn that the studio was laying off more than 40 employees. In a statement to IGN, Blackbird confirmed that 41 members of staff were losing their jobs, in part due to some projects falling through. 

"We've had to take the unfortunate step of laying off some friends this week. This year has been incredibly tough on the industry as a whole," the developer wrote.

"As a result, we've had several unannounced projects canceled and yesterday were forced to say goodbye to 41 of our team members. As an independent studio, Blackbird Interactive has always been a close-knit team. Our top priority is helping position those affected for this next stage of their careers. We are offering a suite of extended benefits and severance to help ease this transition. No announced projects will be affected by this move, and we will continue to deliver on those games."

Blackbird was founded back in 2007 by former EA and Relic staffers.