Here’s a strange phenomena: a company is a week away from launching a major title, only to endure layoffs with one of the co-founders leaving as well. This scenario now applies to the folks over at Utah based developer Eat Sleep Play, who have one of Sony’s most cherished franchises mere days away from release in the form of Twisted Metal.
The already small staff was reduced by 8 down to only 26 people. Eat Sleep Play is planning on moving into the casual/mobile game market and seems to be pretty excited about the new direction.
While not one of the staffers let go, co-founder David Jaffe is also leaving the company and moving on to create another developer. The reason for the move is because of his desire to be in-house with his team. Currently living in California, David cited issues trying to develop a game at a distance and missing the internal based development style as his reasons for stepping away. He also went on to say via twitter that he’s planning on opening a new studio based in San Diego but he’s not going to really pursue that until DICE is over and Twisted Metal ships. While he hasn’t specified what he plans to work on at the new studio, he did mention that he’s going to stay in the “gamer centric” space mixed with big, huge next-gen game ideas. Doesn’t sound like the casual gaming market to me.
I can see the utter horror in your face at this news. Don’t worry. The team at Eat Sleep Play and David Jaffe plan on post Twisted Metal support including big fixes, balancing and patching. They’re certainly not leaving you hanging.
While this news is strange, to see a big name developer like Jaffe leave right before a major game launch, I am excited to see what he does next and for Eat Sleep Play as well as they move into casual/social gaming.