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Rumor: Ignition lays off UK employees, cancels WarDevil again
Ignition Games' transition to a pure publishing operation continues, Develop reports, with layoffs at the company's London studio following those last week in Austin. Anonymous sources told the site that the London team was told of the layoffs on Friday. As Develop puts it, "redundancies have been issued across the entire London development outfit." This once again brings work on WarDevil to a halt. The game was canceled last year following an earlier round of layoffs in Ignition's UK operation. Development started again later that year under the name Project Kane. Develop was unable to confirm this, but heard reports that Ignition was willing to let the project continue if an external developer signed on to complete it. This accompanies rumors that Ignition's Japan studio will close following completion of its latest project -- which, as far as we can tell, would be any work involved with the localization of El Shaddai.
Ignition ceases internal game development; confirms Austin studio layoffs
Eccentric, unapologetically angelic action game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron will debut on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next month, and make for a strange conclusion to Ignition Games' internally developed lineup. The company will move forward with a new studio based in Marina Del Rey, California, and shift its focus to publishing games and seeking out more partnerships with independent developers. From an announcement this morning: "In order to facilitate shifting the publishing focus to more effectively work with innovative independent developers and explore new platform possibilities, Ignition Games has taken the strategic decision not to continue with internal development of games." New Business Development Director, Shane Bettenhausen, also confirmed a round of layoffs at Ignition's Austin location, which excised an internal console development team working on a unannounced project. According to a Gamasutra report, "around 15" people are believed to have been let go. We're told the status of the studio's first-person shooter, Reich, remains unchanged from when it was last mentioned (and said to be alive). Ignition's externally sourced range of games -- including an upcoming 3DS version of twin-screen platformer Fractured Soul -- should remain intact while the company slides out of its development jeans.
