Rumor: PAIN developer Idol Minds lays off more than half of staff

Idol Minds, known best for the PS3 downloadable game PAIN, has laid off more than half of its staff, according to a report by Kotaku. The original team of 46 has been reduced to a mere 20 through a series of layoffs, the latest of which affected seventeen developers.

Kotaku's sources point to budget cuts from long-time publishing partner Sony Computer Entertainment. However, it's hard to ignore the irony of the team's namesake: other than a few expansion packs to PAIN, no major releases or game announcements have come out of the studio since 2007. What this means for the future of the PAIN franchise is unclear for now. Calls to both Idol Minds and SCEA were not returned.