https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-12/annapurna-video-game-team-resigns-leaving-partners-scrambling?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcyNjE3NzQyOSwiZXhwIjoxNzI2NzgyMjI5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTSlBZWklUMEFGQjQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.BpoA_wBJDrNbDbgj_LjnVUJQg6SM_vsIzWUEM6v85xE
2 years ago this investigation into its working was released (abusive working conditions), I think it may be relevant...
That is really bad news. Annapurna has been one of the publishers that’s consistently got excellent unique games under its brand
Terrible news.....for Megan Ellison. Can't wait to see what the inevitable independent studio they'll form puts out.
Sounds like just the publishing side was affected. Lots of other independent developers are kind of in limbo in the short term, which does suck.
Hopefully they can get out of any contracts and go to a publisher not associated with that family.
I was extremely excited by the recent news that Control was going to be adapted into film and or TV. This could be a massive risk to that going ahead.
This is true! But I think the "good" (?) news there is Annapurna Studios is not going anywhere, and they retained all the IP their subsidiary holds. Sucks for the former Annapurna Interactive folks that they can't bring the IP with them, but c'est la vie.
If they had been laid off, that would be terrible. Choosing to all leave at once is, I'd argue, great! It implies that their integrity as developers trumped whatever corporate bullshit the suit at the top was peddling.
Annapurna will live on under a new name in whatever studio they go on to found. The shell they left behind will likely retain the Annapurna name (as that's the only thing that will give it an air of legitimacy), so we as players will have to decouple the link we'd collectively formed between the name and quality.
I'm excited to see what unnamed studio composed of ex-Annapurna devs does next!
Every single time I have played an Annapurna published game, I had a fantastic time. I won't say that everything they did was equal, but everything they did was entertaining, and thought-provoking.
I can't quite follow the legalese required to parse EXACTLY what this means going forward, but I am sure it is not good, and that is disappointing.
Ahh fuck, stuff being published by them was usually a decent sign that it'd be interesting in some way. Best of luck to the actual team, I hope they can put something new together
Uhh, what kinda dispute causes an entire staff to quit??
Can’t see any reason mentioned in the article other than a disagreement with the owner.
Just seems crazy that they’ve let such a successful team walk away, when it sounds like the team were willing to find a way forward…
They likely had some outlandish request or policy that was anathema to the department's mission, and just assumed that they would cave. Seems like good leadership stuck to their principles, and the good leaders were followed by teams who weren't willing to lose that.
If the owner is smart, they'll backtrack, make concessions when hiring everyone back, and learn from their fuckup. In reality, I hope the new company that forms from the exodus finds fast success.
the staff wanted equity vis a vis the spinoff, and ownership decided they didn't want to give it to them
The wiki blurb seems to indicate that the staff were in negotiations to split off and Megan Ellison decided not to let them do that.
LOL, they say they'll replace the staff and honor existing contracts. It's gonna be shit quality. All their partners will be better off severing ties, reclaiming paid funds, and going with the new company that inevitably forms from the department previously known as Annapurna Interactive.
Yes, they're a publisher. They supposedly have/had a small team working on a Blade Runner game, but they have yet to release a game they developed on their own. Publishing is their thing, so Annapurna Interactive is kinda fucked. I mean, jeez, it looks bad, I mean they all walked out.
Annapurna was both, this article is saying that the development side broke off from the publishing side.
Oh....so I dug further, and apparently the only in-house game to their name is a blade runner title that's still in development.