Abubakar Salim is currently starring in season 2 of HBO’s House of the Dragon series, but alongside his acting merits, he’s served as the game director for this year’s hitMetroidvania, Tales of Kenzera: Zau with Surgent Studios. Unfortunately, the developer has recently announced a wave of layoffs amid the rocky state of the gaming industry, but Salim is currently championing those affected in their future endeavors.
Salim is a vocal professional on social media, frequently voicing his opinion on important matters, including those related to Zau. Last month, the Surgent founderspoke against the harassmentreceived after the release of the studio’s debut title, and he continues to be present during Surgent’s layoffs.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Uses Marvel’s Black Panther Choir So African Music Can Be “Embedded Into Its DNA”
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU soundtrack is heavily influenced by the rich traditional music of Africa and Marvel’s Black Panther choir adds to this.
Salim Shows Support To Those Affected By Surgent’s Layoffs
Surgent released a statement on August 13, 2025, confirming the studio had “joined the growing number of games studios impacted by layoffs this year with just over a dozen people affected”. Addressing the “difficult time in the games industry”, the post continued “We remain incredibly proud of our entire team’s work on Zau” and outlined the studio’s drive to support those affected, continue work on Zau, and craft “our next creative projects”.
Sentiments poured in from gamers on X, highlighting the “fantastic mark on the industry with Zau” despite some onlookers claiming the layoffs resulted from the game selling poorly. Zau currently has “Very Positive” reviews on Steam and has a “Generally Favorable” 76 score on Metacritic for its “charm” and ability to delve “into the stages of grief with a positive outlook in an industry hell-bent on aggrandizing endless misery”.
In response to the layoffs, Salim reposted the announcement on X saying, “This hurts deeply. This isn’t the news I wanted to share today.” The founder expressed his pride for the team over the last four years and praised their ability to stand strong “when things got tough”. Salim also highlighted the studio’s focus to “continue supporting those affected in anyway we can”.
Salim was true to his word and created a thread with links to posts from the affected team members, asking the public “If you have ANY opportunities available, or know of any going, please consider these incredibly talented people.”
The founder’s thread included reposts of team members caught in the layoff wave and Salim included his own sentiments for each individual highlighting their merits. Eight former employees were noted in the thread and Salim confirmed there were “a few more” to acknowledge once they had time to share.
Salim concluded his thread by saying he has “so much faith in this industry. I know people are suffering, but I do have hope. We just need to keep going.”
We gave Tales of Kenzera: Zau a glowing 9 out of 10review, praising it for being a “Metroidvania like no other” with stunning visuals and a “powerful and heartfelt narrative”.
