Halfbrick, the Australian developer of the immensely popular game, "Fruit Ninja," has reportedly made half of its current staff redundant.
CNET reported that Halfbrick issued a massive layoff of up to 30 staff members, about half the number of the game studio's staff prior the layoffs. CNET failed to give a specific reason for what happened, although it specified that the decision was made in relation to the struggle the game studio has in its attempt to replicate the huge successes of its games, "Fruit Ninja" and "Jetpack Joyride." Apparently, the decision was reportedly part of the studio's plan to shift from creating new intellectual properties (IPs) to maximizing opportunities for the two games.
CNET reported that Halfbrick closed its Sydney satellite in July 2016. The game studio maintains another satellite office in Spain. The game studio's main office, which is located in Brisbane and which is where the new layoffs were issued, reportedly has less than 30 staff members at the moment. CNET said that at one point, the Brisbane main office employed 70 full-time employees and 100 globally.
Kotaku Australia reported in Sept. 2015 that Halfbrick made its longtime designers Layton Hawkes and Ryan Langley redundant. To put it simply, the game studio has laid off its entire designing team. Shaniel Deo, the chief executive officer at Halfbrick said that the move was made to empower all the remaining staff to contribute to design rather than concentrating design in the hands of a few employees. Moreover, Deo said that Halfbrick will be continuing to make new video games.
The Australian website also reported that before Hawkes and Langley were laid off, Halfbrick's creative director Luke Muscat left the game studio. He was the one considered as the creator of the game studio's successful two games. Muscat created his new game studio named Prettygreat alongside two other Halfbrick former staff members.
Halfbrick has yet to comment on CNET's report.
