NCsoft Axes 21 Workers at Austin Studio

Guild Wars publisher and Lineage developer NCsoft has cut 21 employees from its Austin, Texas development studio, the company revealed today.

According to a Kotaku report, the developer explained that the layoffs were related to positions focused on unannounced and prototype products.

"We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development," an NCsoft spokesperson said. "Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases."

"We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time," added the representative.

The confirmation follows rumors surfacing earlier this week suggesting that NCsoft was considering laying off over 140 employees from the branch and possibly closing the studio altogether. The company recently revealed that sales for its 2008 fiscal year second quarter saw an increase over last year's figures, while operating profit took a sharp 60% hit.

August has not been a kind month for Austin-based developers. On Monday, troubled publisher Midway announced that roughly 70% of its Austin workforce had been cut, as well as the cancellation of the studio's open-world crime title Criminal.