1up is reporting that Silicon Knights, the team behind games such as Eternal Darkness and Too Human, has laid off a number of staff, shrinking from 97 to 25 in three short months.
Silicon Knights is yet to confirm the cuts but, according to 1up, two credible sources have come out in support of the rumours.
The cuts come in spite of grant funding from numerous including $4 million from the Canadian Federal Government and $3 million in funding from Ontario government.
In the context of mass layoffs and closures in Australia, Silicon Knights makes an interesting case study. Locally, most make the case for increased government funding for the video game industry but Silicon Knights — based in Canada — is a company that has received repeated funding and still seems to be struggling. Locally, the Australian games industry is suffering from its own set of issues, but it appears that as though this is a global issue in a number of ways.
Rumor: “Massive Layoffs” at Canadian Studio Silicon Knights [1up]
Boomzzilla
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 9:19 AMNot surprised didn’t to human dev start in the ps1 days and not end up getting released till xbox 360, then flop?
MrBS
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 9:28 AMWouldn’t it be a case of layoffs post the activision opus X-Men Destiny?
Jarred
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 9:31 AMIt seems that the current model of making games is not working, there will be a lot of pain before the dust settles and a new workable model emerges, in the early days of the film industry there were dozens of profitable studios in Hollywood now there are only four, I thing this is where we are headed
Ynefel
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 9:35 AMThis is a shame. The original Too Human was in a ten odd year devhell I believe. It finally came out, and was one of the most underrated games I’ve played in a long while – provided you had someone to co-op with of course. The hope was it was to be the first in a trilogy. I was interested to see if they’d manage to get another one or two out, but I’d be lying if I said this news shocks me.
Still a little bit sad though.
Sam
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 10:05 AMSad, but they haven’t made an amazing game since Eternal Darkness in my mind, and while I still replay that at least once a year it doesn’t really justify SK continuing to exist and produce mediocre stuff
Fenixius
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 10:16 AMX-Men Destiny was a shameful mess of a game. I’m extremely unsurprised.
Snacuum
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 10:22 AMOne of my favourite devs. Glad so far the comments here turned into a Too Human whipping contest.
Snacuum
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 3:24 PMActually it was meant to say “Glad so far the comments were NOT a Too Human whipping contest.”
Chazz
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 7:19 PMProbably because the shame of it’s very existence is punishment enough :P
MrTaco
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11:15 AM…These guys are still around?
Fenixius
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11:47 AMI’ve come back an hour later to add: It is always, terribly sad to hear when game developers lose their jobs. I’m thinking of all the staff at Silicon Knights, who have had to suffer the whims of an auteur, a nasty, vicious court case, and suffering a huge, difficult license with the biggest publisher in the world breathing down their throats.
Hope you guys can keep doing what you love.
Grandmaster B-Funk (Dressed up as Phoenix Wright)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11:55 AMhey silicon knights, make eternal darkness 2, then you will get a shit ton of money, and not have to lay people off!
i would gladly buy and play a sequel to that game, it was fantastic!
Marathon
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11:59 AMLittle bit sad. Loved Eternal Darkness way back when.
diaglyph
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 1:13 PMEternal Darkness is a fav, but I doubt SK could make #2. If there are plans for Eternal Darkness 2, it would be given to someone else. I could see Retro working on it?
Wildesy
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 2:49 PMToo Human was beyond woeful.
blunt
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 3:35 PMAnd nothing of value was lost.
StudiodeKadent
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 4:07 PMI think Too Human is a great game. So shoot me.
X-Men Destiny sucked, but SK were only responsible for part of the suckiness; the story was terrible and was written not by SK but rather by Mike Carey (one of Marvel’s writers).
So, whilst Mike Carey suffers no blowback and Marvel and Activision lost nothing, SK will be taking the entire fall for something that was only partly their fault.
I’m sad that this has happened.
Steve
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 4:36 PMIt’s a universal problem in that if you make bad, or unwanted games, you won’t make a lot of money. Canada has far more success stories than we do (Eidos, BioWare, etc) but they’re not immune to it.