Word is that Australia’s largest development studio, Krome Studios, has today closed its Adelaide office and laid off many more employees from both its Melbourne and Brisbane studios. All up, over a hundred jobs have been lost.
Gamepron reports that the news broke via Twitter as various members of the local games development community expressed their sympathy for those now out of work.
Industry veteran Tony Albrecht tweeted: “My condolences to the Krome guys and gals that were let go today. Sometimes the Game Dev Industry sucks. Go get really drunk is my advice.”
He followed shortly afterwards with: “Yup – Adelaide Krome is shutting down and Melbourne and Brisbane have been cut back heavily. Krome Adelaide are already at the pub.”
UPDATE: Tony Reed, head of the Game Developers Association of Australia, also confirmed the cuts via Twitter: “Looking for solutions for recently unemployed Krome staff. Big Ant in Melbourne are looking for engine programmers – www.bigant.com”
Gamepron says “more than 100 staff members have been let go, from a company boasting 400 last year.” Kotaku has also spoken with well-placed, anonymous sources who claim the 100+ figure is accurate.
The cuts and closures cap a tough year for Krome. In April, we heard that around 50 jobs were lost at the studio after losing out on a deal with LucasArts to develop the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. And in November last year an “undisclosed number” of people were also laid off.
Krome has recently inked a deal with Atari to publish Blade Kitten for PSN, XBLA and PC and last month launched a new Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game on Facebook.
Major staff cuts at Krome Studios [Gamepron]
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