Although not exactly a rumor, nothing has been officially said on whether or not LightBox Interactive is truly going through a major layoff. Specifically, there have been statements from the Texas developer's employees on Twitter, one of the safest being from community manager and associate producer Pete McKay's Twitter stating: “And so another chapter closes on my life. Let’s see where I go next”.
The gaming industry is starting to come together with support for the developer, as 3D Realms' George Boussard tweeted "Good luck to my buddies at LightBox in Austin. Layoffs and rumors of near whole studio gone by Friday."
Lead designer of Twisted Pixel Games, Dan Teasdale said it was "heartbreaking to hear about Lightbox" and even though he only has one slot open, extended an offer to be his "lead coder buddy on a crazy project" to them.
Rumor extraordinaire superannuation expressed hopes that Gearbox might extend a helping hand like s/he believes they did with another Austin based developer, The Workshop who is rumored to be working on Borderlands 2 DLC.
But why is the developer going down? Even more rumors suggest their PlayStation 3 exclusive third person shooter Starhawk didn't hit enough sales, which people are blaming on Sony's lack of marketing (a problem that people have noted in the past). This all comes despite the fact it received decent scores, even being regarded by some reviewers as having the "best multiplayer on the PS3".
Whatever the reason, many are apparently saddened by the rumors of this studio's layoffs and possible closure, particularly because of the past talent LightBox Interactive has displayed.
