UK-based developer Black Rock Studio is said to be on the verge of eliminating as many as 40 positions. Eurogamer cites an unnamed source at the company, who says the layoffs are coming Thursday morning “with the aim of reducing the studio to a single game team.”
The source goes into further detail about recent happenings at the studio, including the cancellation of a Split/Second sequel during pre-production and the shooting down of multiple game pitches by its parent company, Disney Interactive. Nearly half of Black Rock’s staff is said to have been spinning its wheels without a project for several months as a result, so the source says the layoffs — which have been hitting in waves across Disney’s gaming unit since last year — don’t really come as a surprise.
There’s evidently a silver lining on this most recent unemployment-spawned grey cloud, at least; according to the source, the slimmed-down Black Rock will continue work on a “promising” but “new and risky” title that’s already in development.
We’ve reached out to Disney for comment on the report and our best wishes go out to anyone affected by the layoffs. If you’re among that group and would like to share your story, contact us.
Report: Split/Second dev Black Rock facing layoffs originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 May 2011 21:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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