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Update: More Details Regarding Ex-Harmonix Devs
Update #2: Harmonix has elaborated on their earlier statement, further explaining the situation.
After reaching out again to Darren Williams, VP of marketing at Harmonix, Williams sent along more details regarding the unfortunate circumstances.
As the studio evolves so do the skills required of our team. Some new skills are needed, as illustrated by our large number of open roles and recent internal promotions. And some skills are not quite a perfect fit and so changes are made as happened with two people today. And to state once more, there is no layoff. Quite the contrary, we are looking for new people as you can clearly see on our careers page.
Harmonix's website does indeed list a number of open positions, and while Williams acknowledges that the pair are unfortunately no longer employed, at least there isn't more on the way.
Update #1: Harmonix has responded to the layoff of two developers, saying that thankfully more are not on the way.
Darren Williams, VP of marketing at Harmonix, sent us this statement on the situation: "While two people have left today we can state categorically that there is no layoff and that there are absolutely no plans for a layoff."
Original Story: Layoffs have hit Harmonix, but it's unknown if there are others on the way. The information comes from the Twitter accounts of a pair of devs, and hopefully it's not a sign of more to come.
According to a tweet from Eric Pope, the studio's former community manager, game designer Adam Cardoza and Marissa Flabouris were let go. The pair's Twitter accounts also reference the unfortunate turn of events.
It's unknown if there are more layoffs that have happened or will happen. Amplitude just released, and it's not unusual for developers to be laid off once a project is over, but it's unknown if this is related to the game's release.
We're trying to contact Harmonix about the situation, and will update this story if we hear anything.
If anyone is looking for amazing game designers and people, hit me up. My friends @juliusblaise and @Ligeri lost their jobs today.
— Eric Pope (@MrPope) January 11, 2016
[Source: Eric Pope on Twitter via NeoGAF, Adam Cardoza on Twitter, Marissa Flabouris on Twitter]
Our Take
If this is related to the Amplitude release, it makes you wonder if the game's Kickstarter origins makes some developers even more susceptible to the usual ebb and flow of employment around projects.
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