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The Entire Annapurna Interactive Staff has Resigned Today Following Dispute w/ Owner

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?

The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video-game publishing division of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna studio, resigned this month following a dispute with its owner, according to people familiar with the situation.

Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Ellison, the daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, to spin off the video-game division as an independent entity, said the people, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to share the information with the press. When Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned and were followed by around two dozen other staffers.

A spokesperson for Annapurna confirmed that it had explored a spinoff and said the parties failed to reach an agreement, which led to the resignations.

"Our top priority is continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition,” Ellison said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “We’re committed to not only our existing slate of games but also expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across film and TV, gaming, and theater."

The exodus has led to chaos as game developers partnered with Annapurna try to figure out what this means for their upcoming projects. As a publisher, Annapurna is responsible not only for funding the games but for handling services such as quality-assurance, adapting the products for local markets and marketing. Over the past few days, game makers working with Annapurna have scrambled to find new points of contact and figure out whether the company will continue to honor its agreements.


The spokesperson said that all existing games and projects will remain under Annapurna.

New president Hector Sanchez has told developers that the company will honor existing contracts and replace staff who have left, according to the people who spoke with Bloomberg. Sanchez, originally a co-founder of Annapurna Interactive, was brought back last month.

Annapurna’s video-game division has developed a reputation for publishing critically acclaimed titles made by small teams, racking up awards with games such as Outer Wilds, Stray and Cocoon. Last month it announced a deal to partner with the Finnish gaming company Remedy Entertainment to bring the critically acclaimed Control and Alan Wake franchises to film and TV.

The Hollywood Reporter said earlier that Annapurna Interactive’s top executives had quit but not that the entire team had departed.
 
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Draugoth

Gold Member
The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive resigned this month following a dispute with its owner.



"A spokesperson for Annapurna confirmed that it had explored a spinoff and said the parties failed to reach an agreement, which led to the resignations."

"The spokesperson said that all existing games and projects will remain under Annapurna."
 
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Chuck Berry

Gold Member
Didnt they just hook up with Remedy?

Season 8 Wtf GIF by The Office
 

simpatico

Member
Looking at their wiki. I wonder how profitable they are? Doesn't look overwhelmingly so to me. Cocoon was a turd. But hey if there was ever a time to add a DLC wave mode to Stray it would be right now.
 
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It says they all resigned guys, not that they were fired. It's not like these are all developers, they'll be easily replaced from the pool of thousands that have been laid off in the industry recently.
 

bender

What time is it?
Looking at their wiki. I wonder how profitable they are? Doesn't look overwhelmingly so to me. Cocoon was a turd. But hey if there was ever a time to add a DLC wave mode to Stray it would be right now.

That's probably my favorite game of theirs. The design just fascinates me. It was a little bit too easy, but I think without all the guard rails in place, the puzzle would have broken most people's brains.
 

Kronark

Neo Member
That's probably my favorite game of theirs. The design just fascinates me. It was a little bit too easy, but I think without all the guard rails in place, the puzzle would have broken most people's brains.

I was waiting for the brain breaking. I signed up for the brain breaking. Instead nearly two hours in I hadn't spent more than 30-60 seconds on a "puzzle" and was like 3 boss fights in. I said screw it and refunded. Cocoon deserved to flop.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
The company still exists and has a new head, who was brought in last month.

Possible it all crashes and burns but also possible the team can be replaced. We aren’t talking about that many people and the original co-founder is back in charge so will have connections.
 

buenoblue

Member
I think Annapurna are just publishers. Games like Stray and Cocoon are developed by different studios. This still seems bad though as Annapurna has the name to get games in the spotlight.
 
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rapid32.5

Member
They better stop fucking around with Control 2. Stray was amazing. Join Sam Lake to remedy the situation.
 
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near

Gold Member
It won't be easy for Annapurna Interactive to recover from this. It isn't as simple as hiring new staff. Existing projects could be delayed as a result, confidence and brand loyalty with current partners will be impacted. Years of building connections with indie studios and developing a reputation leaves with those staff members. This will have a lasting impact, tragic news for fans of the games they've managed to publish. I also wonder how many of those staff members were developing Blade Runner as that was going to be the first in-house developed and published project.
 
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