Power struggle at Annapurna Interactive: After failed negotiations with owner Megan Ellison, the entire team has quit their jobs
Following the news, you might think that the games industry is in turbulent times at the moment. One mass layoff follows the next. Just yesterday, we reported that mega corporation Microsoftis cutting a further 650 jobs in the gaming sector.
Publisher Annapurna Interactive (Journey,Stray,What Remains of Edith Finch) is apparently also experiencing internal difficulties at the moment –but this time not due to a layoff from above.
According to a report by Bloombergthe publishing team at Annapurna has been negotiating for several months with owner and multimillionaire Megan Ellison about spinning off the video game division as an independent company from the parent company Annapurna Pictures.
However, Ellison recently called off the talks.As a result, studio head Nathan Gary resigned. The rest of the workforce joined their boss; together, 25 employees are now leaving the company. They told Bloomberg:
All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team have resigned together. This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make, and we did not take it lightly.
What happens now?
The news of the terminations has caused a stir among Annapurna Interactive’s business partners Many smaller developers who have a contract with the publisher see the danger that their projects will no longer be continued or that funding will be cut off
However, this should not be the case, promises the new, old interim head.During the negotiations between the studio and owner Megan Ellison, the group management had already hired former Epic Games manager and Annapurna co-founder Hector Sanchezas the new head of interactive and new media.
He would have been in charge of the gaming division anyway if Nathan Gary’s team had succeeded in the spin-off. In a statement to business partners, Sanchez said that all existing contracts would be fulfilled and the staff who had left would be replaced immediately. Group owner Ellison, meanwhile, told Bloomberg:
Our top priority is to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition. We are committed not only to our existing games, but also to expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across film and television, games and theater.
Megan Ellison
Annapurna has attracted attention in the past as a publisher of smaller but critically acclaimed titles, including the cat game Stray. Upcoming projects include games such as Silent Hill: Townfall, as well as the first internally developed game Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth. What happens next remains to be seen
Just last month, Annapurna announced that it had entered into a partnership with Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment to adapt the popular game brandsControlandAlan Wakeinto films.
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