Krome hit again with closure rumours

Australia’s prominent development studio, and one of the biggest independent dev outfits in the world, Krome, is again faced with rumours of commercial breakdown.

The latest claim – that Krome will in fact close completely as of today – has arrived a few weeks after the company’s CEO hit out at the media for speculating and “exaggerating” on rumours of layoffs.

“What’s real and those stories in the press are two different things,” Robert Walsh said, having been hit by rumours that Krome no longer had three studios, but two, with an office in Adelaide axed from the group.

 “I’ve no idea how this story got that far,” he said back in September.

“To put things into perspective, we have around 250 staff [altogether] and Adelaide has like 18 employees – that’s why I think the reports were pretty out of control. It’s a pretty small number.”

He had confirmed the 18 staff were still on notice, thus putting the studio’s viability up for review.

“There’s still potential for other work coming in, but things are taking a little longer,” he added. “Adelaide is still a great studio but we’ve got get the right people working on the right jobs.”

Now rumours have spread across Twitter and into a vast range of media outlets, including Gamespot and IGN – with anonymous sources apparently confirming the company will close altogether.

“All remaining staff have been let go as of Friday, October 15,” read an IGN report, “although there is the possibility that a skeleton-crew may be rehired as contractors to finish off any existing work.”

There has yet to be official statement on the matter. Develop is contacting the group for comment.

The company recently signed a landmark deal with Emergent, where the two companies will share tech and development tools.

A Develop feature from May 2009 reported Krome to have over 400 staff. In three instances since, Krome has announced staff reduction measures (1,2,3).