The Melbourne-based developer of Ashes Cricket 2009, Transmission Games, has made 30 of its workers redundant this week, reports Kotaku Australia.
The lay-offs occurred this past Wednesday, September 30, and accounted for a third of the studio — primarily coders and QA staffers. The reason for the cuts apparently is that the studio was hoping to ink a deal for a movie-based game with a publisher, but that deal went south this week.
An internal email from studio CEO Mike Fegan reveals that Transmission was pitching another project in a well-known franchise to that same publisher:
We finally heard back from XXXX this morning and the news is mixed as [licensed movie game] is currently on hold due to a legal IP problem with the film and no indication on when this issue will be fixed. As part of our fall back plan we have now submitted a pre-prepared pitch for [a sequel to an existing IP] and they also want us to pitch on another project but the reality is we will not have another project in place with them for at least 60-90 days.
As Kotaku Australia points out, the studio also wasn't able to find a publisher for arcade style helicopter game Rotorhead. The upside? Emails obtained by Kotaku Australia indicate that Transmission will be hard at work on another cricket game codenamed Cricket 2010 for release next year. The studio's previously announced flight sim is still in production and will be published by Evolved Games.
Transmission Games Lays Off A Third Of Its Workers [Updated] [Kotaku Australia]