The lights are on
Backbone Entertainment confirmed it laid off employees from its studio today. James North-Hearn, CEO of parent company Foundation 9, says all current projects remain unaffected by this move.
Reports this morning suggested the studio may close entirely but that doesn't appear to be the case. Backbone currently helped develop Dance Central 3 and Midway Arcade Origins. Foundation 9 representatives were unable to comment on the number of employees let go at this time.
Below is North-Hearn's full statement sent to Game Informer:
I regret to announce a round of layoffs at Backbone Entertainment. The studio will continue to operate at a reduced size and will honor its commitments to existing partners. Due to a lower demand for conventional console development, the studio has made some difficult but necessary adjustments in both its capacity and services, with the goal of matching the changing needs of today's market.The dedicated development staff at Backbone has put together some of the studio's best work for our partners in the upcoming fall releases, Dance Central 3 and Midway Arcade Origins. I would like to publicly thank the departing members for their incredible service to the company.All of us at Foundation 9 are sorry to lose them and we’re here to help them to a soft landing. We wish them well in their individual pursuits.
Dance Central. Ew...
im sure if they worked on things better than dance central they would be more successful
remember these Bomberman game great
Feel for em, have friends that have recently been laid off based on seniority. Not right but what can you do.
That's sad. While i didn't particularly like their original games (due to gameplay, not ideas), their ports were great. Sadly, that's about all they did. Death Jr did do too good, despite being highly imaginative and funny. The games were interesting and had promise, but were held back for me by the odd decision to have defeated enemies constantly respawn. You'd kill a monster, move forward to a long jump. turn around to get some running space, and that monster you killed was back and has probably hit you once or twice already. Not cool.
Maybe they should think about making some smaller phone games or handheld titles. I wouldn't mind seeing some sort of Adventure title with the characters. They certainly had enough color and good dialogue
and to everyone who doesn't care about people losing their jobs, it can happen to you in the blink of an eye. Here's hoping it never does.
****User scratches another tally mark on wall for all fallen devs this year***
If you did more original games instead of ports, you might be more in demand. Still don't like to see people laid off though.
They will find a job soon. I hope.
Devs are dropping like flies right now. I hope the people in this industry and the many others going through hard times will be able to turn it around soon.
Wow that sucks. Hearing about more layoffs is always terrible.
I feel sorry for them. Hope those laid off employees get a new job.
While I haven't heard of Backbone, it's sucks for those losing jobs. Best of luck to them.
I hate to see people let go. At least I know what Backbone does now. Maybe we are better off without those games any way.