Things seemed to be going well at Rockstar New England. The studio had just passed an international milestone on an unannounced project. Then Monday hit, and people were out of a job.
Several sources have confirmed to Kotaku that the entire QA department was shuttered, along with artists and a few other assorted staffers in other departments as well. According to one insider, Rockstar is not enthusiastic about having internal QA departments, but rather, wants to keep all QA at a dedicated QA studio.
Estimates are that "at least 10 percent of the studio" was made redundant.
The upside is that Rockstar's severance package is being described as "fairly generous", and the company is even helping some former Rockstar New England employees find jobs.
Based in Andover, Massachusetts, Rockstar New England was originally Mad Doc Software, but acquired by Rockstar in April 2008 and re-branded as a subsidiary.
We are following up with Rockstar for a comment.