SES Q&A | 2026 Studio Update

Summary

System Era CEO and co-founder Brendan Wilson says the studio is restructuring after its first-ever layoffs and a difficult launch for Starseeker. The company is shifting back toward its roots as a smaller, more focused studio, with Astroneer as its primary focus and more direct engagement with its community.

Strategy and organizational changes

• System Era reduced its workforce by roughly half, returning to approximately its 2020 size. The company says the cuts are intended to support its long-term sustainability.
• Leadership believes the studio grew too large and spread its attention across too many initiatives. It plans to reduce bureaucracy and return to a smaller-team operating model.
• Wilson says a smaller organization can make decisions faster. He contrasts a 60-person team with a hypothetical 200-person studio, saying a larger team would not necessarily have solved the problems the company faced.
• The goal is to become a more focused version of the company fans originally valued: one that listens closely, communicates directly, and stays connected to what made System Era distinctive.

Product priorities and execution

• Astroneer is now the studio’s primary focus. System Era plans to rebuild the internal team working on it, bringing back experienced developers who contributed to the game from 2017 onward.
• New Astroneer content is already in development and expected to release over the next two months. The studio has also teased a surprise for the game’s 10th anniversary of its early-access release on December 16.
• Longer term, the studio wants to plan updates more carefully around player feedback. One priority is adding new environments to explore and build in, an area Wilson says the game has not addressed well enough.
• Starseeker will continue to receive support, despite its early-access launch not attracting the response the studio needed. A smaller team will work toward version 1.0, reassessing the game’s direction and focusing on the systems and design elements with the most potential.

Lessons from Starseeker

• Starseeker was a major creative departure from Astroneer and a technically complex project with a large budget. Wilson says it did not perform as hoped.
• The studio believes it lost touch with community feedback and the gameplay elements fans valued. Players’ responses also indicated that the experience did not meet their quality expectations.
• The implied product-development lesson is to maintain a stronger connection between creative ambition, core gameplay, quality expectations, and ongoing customer feedback.

Marketing and community communication

• System Era plans to return to more direct, transparent communication, including answering questions raised on Reddit and Discord.
• The studio says its marketing approach had moved away from the personal interactions that helped build trust with its community.
• Further details about marketing, events, and game updates are expected to be shared through Discord.

Metrics and timelines

• Workforce: Approximately 50% reduction, returning headcount to roughly the 2020 level.
• Team-size comparison: Wilson contrasts a 60-person scale with a hypothetical 200-person studio, saying greater scale would not necessarily have improved outcomes.
• Astroneer content: Planned for release over the next two months.
• Starseeker: Continued development toward version 1.0; no release date provided.
• Financial performance, revenue, margins, and player or sales targets: Not disclosed.

Presenters and sources

• Joe, host
• Brendan Wilson, System Era co-founder and CEO