Silicon Knights 'scaling back' with new layoffs

Troubled developer Silicon Knights has confirmed additional layoffs following its loss against Epic Games.

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Troubled developer Silicon Knights has confirmed additional layoffs following its loss against Epic Games. The X-Men Destiny developer sued Epic Games for troubles it faced working with the Unreal Engine during development of Too Human. Not only did Silicon Knights lose the case, Epic Games' countersuit will cost the company nearly $5 million in damages.

Although Silicon Knights has expressed intent on appealing the decision, it appears the company is continuing to downsize. "Silicon Knights has unfortunately had to lay off a small number of people," studio head Denis Dyack confirmed.

"We are scaling back to a core group and focusing all our efforts on future opportunities," Dyack told GI.biz.

Silicon Knights had laid off more than half of its staff late last year. Although the company had hoped the layoff would be "short term," the company's misfortunes are continuing to grow. With yet another layoff, can the remaining team continue to work on its purported next-generation game?

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    June 11, 2012 3:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Silicon Knights 'scaling back' with new layoffs.

    Troubled developer Silicon Knights has confirmed additional layoffs following its loss against Epic Games.

    • reply
      June 11, 2012 3:51 PM

      I'm always sad to see people losing their jobs, but this is honestly all Dyack's fault and I hope that SK goes down in flames and the game industry casts him out.

      • reply
        June 11, 2012 8:40 PM

        Agreed. UE3 had a bunch of problems back in mid-2007 when Dyack originally filed the lawsuit, but those problems have mostly been fixed, and Epic stepped up their engine licensee support in 2008 and 2009. Back then I appreciated the spirit of the lawsuit, but Dyack either got greedy, or deluded into thinking that his arguments were still strong.

        The lawsuit was originally filed almost 5 years ago; that's a long time in the video game industry. http://www.shacknews.com/article/48041/silicon-knights-serves-epic-games

      • reply
        June 11, 2012 9:08 PM

        Agreed on it being Dyack's fault. Shame his studio has to suffer his hubris

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