THQ cuts staff at Kaos, Volition

THQ has confirmed that it laid off over 30 employees this week -- 17 from Homefront's Kaos Studios, and 16 from Red Faction: Armageddon's Volition.

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THQ has confirmed that it laid off over 30 employees this week, across Kaos Studios and Volition, Gamasutra reports. Sixteen employees were cut from Volition, and 17 from Kaos.

"We had to let go of 16 employees at Volition, our studio in Champaign, Illinois," the company said in a statement. "We must adjust our workforce to fit the studio's current needs, which is a relatively common occurrence in the game development industry." The company said "steps are being taken to ensure team members affected by the transition are treated with appropriate concern." Volition still has about 220 employees.

The cuts at Kaos, by comparison, leave the team with 70 employees. "We have made changes to ensure that the team size aligns to the current stages of internatl product development," THQ said. The publisher is also offering outplacement assistance for the laid off employees.

Volition is preparing to ship Red Faction: Armageddon in May, and has announced Saints Row: The Third for this fall. Kaos just shipped Homefront, which sold an estimated one million units in its first 10 days on the market.

THQ assures that the remaining team at Kaos will continue support Homefront. "Kaos has a dedicated team in place that will continue to support Homefront with an ongoing, robust DLC and content plan, as well as working on pre-production for future games."

We've seen recent rumors that Kaos may be moving its New York offices entirely to the new Montreal-based studio. The rumors claim that those who can't go to Montreal may be let go as well. General manager David Votypka didn't rule out the possibility of moving, so the 17 cuts reported above may be followed by more.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 1, 2011 9:30 AM

    Comment on THQ cuts staff at Kaos, Volition, by Steve Watts.

    • reply
      April 1, 2011 9:33 AM

      Summary: THQ has confirmed that it laid off over 30 employees this week -- 17 from Homefront's Kaos Studios, and 16 from Red Faction: Armageddon's Volition.

      • reply
        April 1, 2011 10:24 AM

        I'm not surprised about Kaos Studios' layoffs

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          April 1, 2011 10:57 AM

          Agreed, they should of laid off more at the Kaos studios... All they can boast about is the sales they made but the game was garbage at best. Who's going to be dumb enough to buy their DLC is another question....

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      April 1, 2011 10:09 AM

      APRIL FOOLS LOL!!!!!111111

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      April 1, 2011 10:11 AM

      Wow, no Batmanshack reply yet?

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      April 1, 2011 10:21 AM

      [deleted]

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      April 1, 2011 10:24 AM

      good riddance, they made shitty games

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        April 1, 2011 10:34 AM

        Their games are good enough that you could at least take into consideration that they're real people losing their jobs before you make a flippant post on the interwebz about them.

        They aren't making Half-Life 3, but they also aren't making shovelware either.

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        April 1, 2011 10:34 AM

        :( theres at least one shacker that works at kaos.

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        April 1, 2011 10:59 AM

        I'm sure you're lighting the world on fire every day at your job.

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        April 1, 2011 11:14 AM

        You haven't played Space@sshole then. Awesome game.

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      April 1, 2011 10:35 AM

      Hey, what about Red Faction? I was impressed by Guerrilla.

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      April 1, 2011 11:08 AM

      Thank you to those of you on here with supportive comments. A lot of talented, hard-working people that put their full hearts into Homefront lost their jobs.

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        April 1, 2011 11:11 AM

        Did you bother reading any of the comments?

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        April 1, 2011 11:13 AM

        Saying I wasn't surprised doesn't mean I wish ill will on anyone who was let go today. I'm sorry if that's what you thought.

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        April 1, 2011 11:16 AM

        [deleted]

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          April 1, 2011 11:21 AM

          [deleted]

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          April 1, 2011 11:22 AM

          These were not contractors. I've been doing this for awhile so yes I understand how teams grow and shrink through development. It doesn't mean it isn't unfortunate.

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        April 1, 2011 11:16 AM

        FWIW: I liked Frontlines: Fuel of War enough to buy it twice. :)

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          April 1, 2011 11:25 AM

          Thanks! It definitely had its moments.

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        April 1, 2011 11:19 AM

        Best of luck to you guys. I'm sure you'll all land on your feet.

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          April 1, 2011 11:26 AM

          Thanks. People are definitely rallying to help them find new jobs.

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        April 1, 2011 11:26 AM

        I wish noone to loose their jobs, but seriously, homefront was a total disaster.

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          April 1, 2011 11:27 AM

          Well, to be fair, the MP is pretty good. Unfortunately I bought it for the SP...

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        April 1, 2011 11:53 AM

        I enjoyed homefront more so than any COD game recently, hope you guys find good work.

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        April 1, 2011 12:56 PM

        For what it's worth, I had a lot of fun with Homefront. Best of luck going forward man!

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        April 1, 2011 9:57 PM

        Holinka,
        Sorry to hear some of your coworkers were let go. I enjoyed Homefront a lot. Best of luck on your next project(s).

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      April 1, 2011 11:19 AM

      Listen Shacknews, if you're going to report layoffs I also want you to start reporting on new hires as well.

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        April 1, 2011 11:22 AM

        I think public companies are obligated to report restructurings and because so little game news comes out everyday, it gets picked up.

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          April 1, 2011 11:36 AM

          Ya I sort of thought of that after I posted... it's a shame really, I wish more companies would report new hires but then I guess that would be information that some companies wouldn't want getting out for competitive reasons.

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            April 1, 2011 11:47 AM

            Usually big new hires is announced like "ubisoft toronto opens - looking for 200 people" or blizzard "looking for console dev"

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              April 1, 2011 11:50 AM

              It should be celebrated! :-) I just find that most news outlets flock to negative news about people getting laid off or let go since they generate more traffic and responses, as you can see here.

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                April 1, 2011 11:57 AM

                I don't think game news sites even know when people get hired. How would they know?

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            April 1, 2011 1:25 PM

            Well, there is the whole dispute between Ubi and THQ regarding them fighting over middle-management guys.

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        April 1, 2011 1:03 PM

        Companies don't hire 12+ people at one time. Unless it is a big hire, what is there to report?

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      April 1, 2011 11:21 AM

      Aw, man. Volition made Freespace 2. That means they can never, ever, ever do wrong. :(

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      April 1, 2011 11:28 AM

      It's a surprise to see Volition losing staff before Red Faction hits.

      It's not surprising with THQ wanting to move Kaos Studios and Homefront going into a support stage rather than a development stage. This always happens after a game comes out.

      I hope those of you in NYC can land on your feet.

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      April 1, 2011 11:30 AM

      Less people at Volition means even less of a chance that we'll see a good Freespace reboot.

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        April 1, 2011 11:47 AM

        Doesn't interplay still hold the rights?

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      April 1, 2011 11:49 AM

      Ugh, I guess THQ isn't any better than any of the other big publishers.

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      April 1, 2011 12:01 PM

      good, let them go found a studio to create KOTOR 3 :D

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      April 1, 2011 12:39 PM

      Nothing lost here, this is prob just the artists or people really don't have work for. Usually the head guys, the ones that screwed the game up in the first place keep their jobs. Can't wait to NOT buy this ROBUST DLC they say.

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        April 1, 2011 12:57 PM

        I like how the mere mention of Homefront is like a Batsignal calling you to threadshit.

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          April 1, 2011 10:04 PM

          DINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNADINNATHREADSHIT!

    • reply
      April 4, 2011 6:45 AM

      "Congrats on crunching for 8 months; you're fired."

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