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  • Rumor: Massive Layoffs at Silicon Knights

    Sources tell us the team has shrunk from 97 to 25 employees.

    By Andrew McMillen

    10/31/2011

    All but 25 staff at the Canadian video game development studio Silicon Knights have been laid off, according to sources close to the company.

    Silicon Knights has not officially confirmed the cuts, but two credible independent sources contacted us with the information over the weekend. One wrote that "Silicon Knights has had massive layoffs. They are now down to a core staff of 25 people." The other said, "It may interest you to note that SK laid off all but 25 employees today."

    This outcome follows the St. Catharines, Ontario-based studio receiving three recent funding grants, totaling CDN $8 million: $1 million in 2008, invested by the Ontario Media Development Corporation, $4 million in 2010 via the federal government, and most recently, $3 million in July 2011 via the Ontario government.

    Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack stated in July 2011 that the CDN $3 million investment would allow the company to improve its technology, hire 80 new people while keeping 97 current jobs and allow the company to become "self sustaining." We do not know at this stage what went wrong, nor how the studio's payroll has shrunk from 97 to 25 in three months. A source says, "I heard they laid off all of HR including Denis' wife," in reference to Joanne Dyack, SK's director of human resources.

    On October 26, another source told 1UP that "you might want to keep an eye on SK in the next few days. If you were connected to many of SK's directors and producers on LinkedIn, you would be noticing a very disproportionate amount of CV updating and connection-making activity. And yes, I have heard that the worst is happening. Stay tuned." Silicon Knights' publicist responded that same day, saying "Silicon Knights is not shutting down and no layoffs have happened at this time."

    On behalf of 1UP, I have been looking into the Canadian studio since receiving an anonymous tip in late July. The email came from an account seemingly registered for the sole purpose of sending the message, judging by the username "SK Whistleblower," and alleged that Silicon Knights' planned to leave out names of employees who had left the company in the credits of its latest title, X-Men: Destiny, among other criticisms. SK is best known for the critically-acclaimed 2002 GameCube hit Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and the 2008 XBox 360 title Too Human.

    I spent the next month reaching out to former Silicon Knights employees. Many of those who responded confirmed that they, too, had heard the rumors of their names being removed from the credits of X-Men: Destiny. When the game shipped to stores on September 27, these names were included in a "Special Thanks" section of the credits. Sources say that they were reinstated because of our inquiries to the company; Silicon Knights reps say this is inaccurate and they planned for those names to be included all along.

    Since late August, Dyack has agreed to several interview requests on this topic through a publicist, but has delayed speaking, first citing a busy schedule finishing the game, then recently citing a family illness.

    Silicon Knights has not responded to our requests for comment on the layoffs.
    The Hackmaster

  • #2
    Silicon Knights confirms layoffs

    By Andrew Yoon
    Nov 01, 2011 6:15 P.M. PDT

    Silicon Knights, developer of X-Men Destiny and Too Human, has confirmed sizable layoffs. The Canadian studio has let go of 45 employees, or slightly more than half of the team. This is a smaller figure than rumored yesterday, but is still a significant cut.

    According to the studio, the reason for the layoff is the cancellation of a new game which had "been in the works for months" and was canceled at "the final second." The lack of work is what resulted in the layoff.

    Mike Mays, chief financial officer of Silicon Knights, explained to the Financial Post (via Joystiq) that the team is currently negotiating contracts for new projects. "Hopefully this layoff will be short term," Mays noted.

    It's unclear what the canceled project was. One game that the studio had reportedly been shopping around was an open-world horror game, which both Sega and THQ picked up and subsequently dropped.

    So what is Silicon Knights working on now? Kotaku was told that "the company is currently refocusing and returning to its roots, working on one of its most requested titles for the next generation."

    In spite of the studio's recent bombs, the company has a legacy of high-profile titles: Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness, and the Metal Gear Solid remake, Twin Snakes. A continuation (or HD revamp) of any of these titles will undoubtedly be one of the studios' most requested titles.
    The Hackmaster

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