Ontario-based developer Silicon Knights has confirmed reports of massive layoffs that have seen more than half of the company's workforce axed.
CFO Mike Mays told the Financial Post that the studio was forced to let 45 of its employees go yesterday, leaving a staff of "just under 40" people. According the Mays, the move was made in response to news that a publisher had unexpectedly pulled funding for their next game.
"We had another project lined up that had been in the works for months, which had been green-lit and at the final second, at the high corporate level, the project got canceled," Mays explained. "We don’t know why. Probably something to do with the publisher on their side, but that resulted in us having too many people so we had to do a layoff."
Silicon Knights perhaps still best known as the developer of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, a 2002 Gamecube horror title that won widespread critical praise in spite of lackluster sales figures. The company went on to develop Too Human, a game that was nearly universally panned by reviewers and gamers alike. The studio's most recent title, X-Men: Destiny, released in September to a similarly lackluster reception.
