Gamasutra has received reports that a significant number of people lost their jobs at Gameloft Tokyo this summer due to poor performance of the studio’s recently-released debut game, Magna Memoria (pictured.)
A former employee who wishes to remain anonymous estimates that as many as 80 Gameloft Tokyo employees were let go between June and August as the studio shut down the lion’s share of its production department.
Gamasutra has verified the source as a former Gameloft Tokyo employee, who claims that the order came down from Gameloft headquarters in Paris two weeks after Magna Memoria launched. Shortly thereafter, the game’s Twitter account (linked above) went quiet.
“Following 1.5 years of development with steady overtime, with a final release rush crunch time of about 4 months…We were told that the game was performing below expectations, and as a result was stopped, and the production department would be closed,” says the source, who estimates that roughly 11 people remain at Gameloft Tokyo working in administrative capacities.
Gamasutra has reached out to Gameloft representatives to verify this report and solicit further comment, but has received no response. If you or someone you was affected by this decision you can email Gamasutra to tell your story confidentially.