WarnerMedia’s continued efforts to restructure have unfortunately claimed one of the company’s game development studios. Big Pixel Studios is now confirmed to be closing as part of WarnerMedia’s larger cutbacks. The studio, which employed around 40 developers, is best known for its free-to-play mobile game Rick and Morty: Pocket Mortys, a Pokemon-style RPG where the player collects different types of Mortys from across the universe.
The news broke this past Tuesday when Big Pixel Studios programmer Laurie James confirmed the bad news on social media. According to James, the 40 developers from Big Pixel Studios will have been “made redundant from January 1.” James says many Big Pixel devs have lined up positions already, which perhaps means the studio closure has been known for some time. “Some hella good people here,” James’ adds, requesting that studios with open positions reach out to the Pocket Mortys developers.
What’s especially unfortunate about the situation is that Big Pixel Studios was acquired by WarnerMedia, or more specifically its Adult Swim subsidiary, in 2018. The studio was originally formed in 2009, meaning it had 9 successful years independently, only to have two years with WarnerMedia leading to the studio’s closure. Additionally, the closure comes as part of a corporate restructure, which has little to nothing to do with the studio, its output, or what it’s working on next.
WarnerMedia has been restructuring as part of a corporate effort to reduce costs within the company by a staggering 20%. Thousands of employees, approximately 5-7% of its workforce, within WarnerMedia and its subsidiaries are facing layoffs. The gaming divisions within WarnerMedia have largely remained protected due to their profitability and value. Big Pixel Studios unfortunately fell through the cracks, and perhaps hints at bigger layoffs at either Adult Swim Games or Warner Bros. Interactive.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
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