MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The developer of early access RPG game Breach, QC Games, is closing down.
In a post on the official website (thanks, GI.biz), QC Games thanked its players and said it had to “[wind] down internal operations on Breach”, but did not expand on why the studio was closing, nor clarify how, and how many, developers would be affected by the closure. It did, however, promise to post “an updated article with answers to as many questions as [they] can cover” for the players of the free-to-play RPG.
“Thank you. Thank you for being a part of the Breach community. Thank you for being a part of our Technical Alpha and Early Access stages. Thank you for all the kind words of support and constructive feedback over the months, and thank you for believing in QC Games and Breach,” the post said.
“Unfortunately, today is the last official day for QC Games, as we begin winding down internal operations on Breach. We’re sure you have a lot of questions about Breach, your accounts, and the future of the game. Our team is still working on defining what this means for Breach and for our community, and we’ll post an updated article soon with answers to as many questions as we can cover.
“Servers will remain online at this time and we will be turning off the ability to purchase both the Breach Starter Pack and in-game QC Points tomorrow (April 4th) during a maintenance period. Servers will come back online after our Thursday maintenance for those that want to continue to play Breach, and we hope to provide more information soon.”
These latest layoffs come on the back of many other closures and cutbacks we’ve seen recently. Earlier this month, Valve let go its VR team and employees on “contractor agreements”, Techland shuttered Polish publishing and distribution division, and Brighton-based That’s You! developer Wish Studios closed down.
Digital retailer GOG laid off “a dozen” positions, purported to be around 10 per cent of its workforce and only a month after reportedly laying off an “undisclosed number” of staff from its American San Mateo studio, Iron Tiger Studios, South Korean online game publisher NCSoft has announced it will be making “staff reductions” at Guild Wars 2 developer, ArenaNet, too. Finnish studio Next Games recently announced it is laying off 26 staff after it reviewed “the cost structure of the company’s operations”, and Activision recently laid off 8 per cent of its staff – 775 people.
Other closures include AER Memories of Old developer, Forgotten Key, Islands of Nyne: Battle Royale developer, Define Human Studios, Daybreak, Starbreeze, Bandai Namco Vancouver, and Trion Worlds, best known for its MMO games. Telltale Games laid off the majority of its staff in a ‘majority studio closure’ back in September. The media too has been affected, with the shuttering of leading strategy guides publisher Prima Games and Future’s GamesMaster and games™ magazines.
