It's a brand! Square Enix today welcomed (tentatively named) Square Enix Europe into the world; an "efficient and powerful" newborn division that looks just like Eidos' worldwide studios combined with various European sales and marketing personnel from existing Square Enix and Eidos lineages. Current Eidos CEO Phil Rogers has been selected to raise the baby branch, which replaces Eidos as a publishing label, though the Eidos brand will live on through its studios' credits. Additionally, Eidos' North American marketing, sales and distribution operations have been delegated to the territory's Square Enix office, which is led by John Yamamoto.

Of course, the icky part of Edios' arranged marriage to Square Enix and the subsequent birth of Square Enix Europe is the anticipation of an unknown number of layoffs. "Unfortunately we are expecting some jobs to be impacted directly by this in both Europe and North America," an Eidos spokesperson confirmed. "We are hoping to minimize this wherever possible and offer support and advice to any employees directly affected."

It appears that all of the developers at Blue Omega Entertainment, the folks behind Damnation (and producer of B-movie horror flicks like Dark Ride and Danika, starring Marisa Tomei!), have been laid off. Sure, a tweet announcing this has been floating around since June 23rd, but it appears a former employee, who sent a tip to several media outlets, finally got the news ball rolling. Kotaku confirmed with "several former employees" that the entire development team was laid off.

The tipster also reveals there were bigger "issues" at the studio and mentions that, if anyone has access to US and UK legal records, digging around will reveal those problems. Shacknews followed up and found a paper trail of legal disputes and drama involving Blue Omega, publisher Codemasters and subcontractors working on the game.

Whatever all those layers of problems were, it likely had an influence on the team's product: Damnation had an average Metacritic score in the high 30s.

[Via Develop]

Before it was known as Boom Blox, Steven Spielberg's puzzle game project was known as PQRS, and it was revealed alongside an Xbox 360/PS3 action game, codenamed LMNO, about a former secret agent on the run with a dynamic AI character.

Boom Blox, of course, was released to great critical acclaim, but LMNO hasn't been so lucky. In fact, the last thing we heard about it were rumors that the team had been laid off (which Spielberg denied) and the project put on hold.

In an interview with Edge, Passage creator Jason Rohrer revealed that he had been involved with the project. "On top of (odd programming jobs), I did some consulting work, most recently for EA on the Spielberg LMNO project," he told Edge. "My understanding is that project's pretty much been canceled now, what with the changing economy, but I'm not sure."

[Update: EA responds, telling Kotaku: "The rumor is incorrect. EA remains deeply committed to its collaboration with Steven Spielberg and projects we are developing together. LMNO was a code name for a project in development at EALA. While the project continues to develop at EALA with Steven, we no longer refer to it as LMNO. We have no further details to reveal at this time."]

News that our fellow gaming industry professionals have been stripped of their employment is always a bad thing -- even when said professionals work for a studio that we ... kind of ... forgot about. Hey, it's not our fault. Do a quick search for "Rockstar New England," and the only result is a post about the studio's origins published April 2008. They've reportedly been working on an unannounced project since then -- but then again, who isn't these days?

According to Kotaku, Rockstar New England (formerly Mad Doc Software) just axed about 10 percent of its staff -- including the entire quality assurance department. Unnamed sources reported Rockstar is cutting QA across the board in favor of having a single QA studio -- a fact that doesn't bode well for the non-bugginess of Grand Theft Auto V. Strangely enough, Rockstar New England's site says the studio is hiring for a few programming and designing positions. Rarely do gaming studios have such Wal-Mart-esque turnover.

We've contacted Rockstar to find out if Kotaku's sources were accurate.

Bionic Games, developers of the Capcom-published action game Spyborgs, has laid off an unspecified number of staff, according to statements given to G4 by company president Michael Haller. "On Friday, we began moving team members to other projects and laying off those for whom we do not have an immediate position," Haller said. "This is normal at every development studio that I am familiar with." He denied rumors that a refusal to pay by Capcom had forced the company to shut down entirely.

According to Haller, the current state of Spyborgs development no longer required the full complement of employees at Bionic. "Last week, we completed our Beta delivery [of Spyborgs] to Capcom," he told G4. "We now only need a small team to handle any bugs that might pop up over the next month or so. The game is for all intents and purposes finished and delivered."

In fact, Haller confirmed that Bionic is "six months into" its next project, and will begin hiring more staff following a successful prototype submission for that game.

Eidos has confirmed that another 25 employees have been let go from Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. The publisher told Kotaku that the decision is a "reflection of the continued drive to focus resources at the studio."

This latest round of layoffs follows the confirmed forced departure of approximately 30 employees. At that time, the belief was that the firings had to do with Eidos' dissappointment with Tomb Raider Underworld's sales. This latest round likely has more to do with Square Enix's acquisition of Eidos and the publisher trying to figure out what to do with Crystal Dynamics, which currently has no announced titles.

GRIN sort of exploded onto the scene recently with Wanted, Bionic Commando and Terminator Salvation all releasing within a couple of months of each other. Like a star post-supernova though, it seems that the company might be shrinking in on itself. Kotaku's reporting that various sources have indicated to them that the company has let go of more than 100 staff members.

We're working on getting official confirmation from someone at GRIN, we'll let you know what we find out.

Avalanche Studios CEO Christofer Sundberg confirmed to GI.biz that the studio has had to hand 20 employees their walking papers, following the 77 employees the studio let go back in October. Sundberg says that these layoffs will not affect the games the studio currently has in development. Just Cause 2 is still set to appear at E3 next month, and the company is even looking to reveal a new game it's been working on with a publishing partner, though any further details on the project could not be revealed at this time.

Excuse us while we pour one out for the latest homies that have fallen victim to Joystiq's dreaded layoffs tag.

Factor 5 officially announced the closure of its US operations recently, concluding a story that feels like it's been just out of reach for half a year. The developer had been having some rough times since the poignant failure of Lair. Following that, there was its falling out with Brash Entertainment (which led to layoffs), leaks of the Superman and Kid Icarus games, and, obviously, the closure of the studio.

The bright side on this really dark tale is that Achim Moller, CEO of Factor 5 Germany, states the company has "partnered with both old and new friends in the industry who will reveal our upcoming projects over the next months." With E3 visible in the smog-filled distance, perhaps we'll learn what the German-based developer is up to soon.

[Via Kotaku, Siliconera]

M2 Research market analyst Wanda Meloni estimates that 8,450 game industry employees have been let go since July 2008. North America had approximately 6,300 layoffs (75 percent), which represents 12 percent of the region's workforce -- her piece was published on Gamasutra last Friday, so it likely doesn't take into account the Massive and 3D Realms hits.

Meloni's "glass half full" view of the layoffs is that these folks will start small development studios and form part of what she's calling the "Gaming Renaissance Movement." She feels that these start-ups -- many self-funded through severance packages -- have the "creativity, vision and sheer grit" (not to mention: no other choice) to do their best to make it.

The majority of Meloni's post goes into detail about what tools, funding and partners these start-ups have at their disposal. As for us, we're just looking to give the "layoffs" tag a rest.

[Via Edge]

Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms has closed its doors, according to Shacknews. The developer was reportedly forced to cease operations due to funding issues, prompting it and Apogee Software Inc. to lay off all staff. Perhaps developing one title for more than a decade wasn't a great strategy.

3D Realms was founded by George Broussard and Scott Miller in 1987, but became a household name with Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. While 3D Realms is also known for publishing high profile titles, such as Max Payne, the studio has become famous for developing Duke Nukem Forever for the last 13 years. Joystiq has reached out to 3D Realms and its publishing partner, Take-Two Interactive, for comment.

Update: A studio representative has commented on the rumor regarding 3D Realms. Although it isn't a confirmation, it does hint a situation is brewing at the house that built Duke: "Deep Silver and Apogee Software are not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned."

Update 2: Alan Lewis, Vice President of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs for Take-Two Interactive has sent us an official statement regarding the situation at 3D Realms: "It is the Company's policy to not comment on its contractual relationships, nor do we comment on rumors and speculation. That said, we can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title. In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever."‪

Update 3: 3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler has confirmed rumors of a 3D Realms shut down are true, posting "It's not a marketing thing. It's true. I have nothing further to say at this time" on the 3D Realms official forum.

Update 4: 3DRealms.com and the site's official forum are experiencing issues at this time due to the volume of visitors. The sites have not been removed at this time.

It seems as though the reports coming in this morning regarding Microsoft layoffs at its in-game advertising department, Massive, were more than a tad overstated. A Microsoft spokesperson, as well as Cassandra Nuttall, head of marketing at Massive, confirmed to us this afternoon that, "In total, the Massive business unit will see a headcount reduction of 28 percent."

Earlier today we reported that a variety of outlets, relying on "anonymous sources," were told that the layoffs at Massive were as high as 75 percent. "While yesterday's job eliminations included full-time employees who work for Massive," the spokesperson told us, "the reports of a 75 percent workforce reduction are inaccurate." Citing the "global economic downturn" for the staff cuts, Ms. Nuttall also insures us that the company "foresee[s] no disruption whatsoever [in its] current relationships with global, blue chip brands and leading game publishers." To those of you laid off, we wish you the best in the coming months.

According to multiple reports this morning, the second round of Microsoft layoffs has affected Microsoft's in-game advertising arm, Massive. Apparently as much as 75 percent of the staff has been cut, according to anonymous sources at VentureBeat.

"As part of the plan we announced in January to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, today we are eliminating additional positions across several areas of the company ... Microsoft is not breaking out layoff figures by divisions," a rep for Microsoft told Gamasutra. We've contacted Massive and Microsoft for confirmation of the layoff numbers and will update this story when we hear more. If you were affected by the layoffs and want to speak with us (anonymously or otherwise), please feel free to shoot us an email.

Update: Microsoft and Massive have responded to our emails and corrected reports from this morning.


Source 1 - Gamasutra
Source 2 - VentureBeat
Source 3 - BigDownload

According to an internal email seen by CNET, the second round of Microsoft layoffs begin today, part of the 5,000 in job cuts promised by the company in January. Back then, we were hopeful that solid Xbox performance would help spare the gaming division ... until we heard about the shuttering of ACES and the dissolution of the Gamerscore Blog team.

This time, with no specific information to go on in said email, we're just going to cross our fingers for good news and keep our ears to the ground.