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Report: Airtight Games Shuttered Following Release Of Murdered: Soul Suspect
Airtight Games, the studio behind Murdered: Soul Suspect, Dark Void, Quantum Conundrum, and others, has reportedly shut its doors. The news comes after key individuals left Airtight in May and June.
We reached out to Airtight co-founder Jim Deal on multiple occasions to inquire about the studio’s position last month and did not receive a reply. Employees declined to go on the record about the reasons for their departure or the overall health of the company. Square Enix, the publisher of Murdered: Soul Suspect, directed us to Airtight for comment at that time.
Now, GeekWire is reporting that the company offices are vacant, equipment is being liquidated, and a collection of nomination and award ribbons from events were left strewn on a table. GeekWire visited the offices in Redmond, Washington to find the sale in progress and a sign indicating the company has closed.
Airtight laid off 14 people in early April. At that time, Deal attributed the action to “necessary restructuring.” Additionally, Quantum Conundrum lead and Portal co-designer Kim Swift departed the studio for Amazon to work on programming for the FireTV. We've reached out to Airtight again and will update should we receive a response.
[Source: GeekWire]
Our Take
It was clear to us that something was going on at Airtight, but company leadership was absolutely silent, and employees were being loyal to a fault. Unfortunately, Murdered: Soul Suspect’s critical and commercial reception was likely what made it impossible to recover from the situation. We hope those affected by the studio’s closure land on their feet quickly.
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