Woe be to studios that have even one under-performing game in this economy and woe be to Deep Silver Vienna. Koch Media confirmed the closure of the Austrian studio today to Develop.
Koch said that "this decision is not easy for us" and named the "the current overall economic situation" as the reasoning for the closure. The German publisher will bring all of Deep Silver Vienna's development resources to its Munich HQ. The 20 employees were apparently caught unawares by the news, though they will be paid through March and may be offered other positions within Koch. Co-founder Hannes Seifert is believed to have taken a creative director position in Square Enix.
Seifert and Niki Laber (previously of Rockstar Vienna, which most notably did the early work on Manhunt 2 before its closure) founded Games That Matter in 2007, which was bought out by Koch in August of that year and re-branded as part of the company's Deep Silver label. Built on the philosophy for creating IP in-house and outsourcing the development, the Wii-exclusive Cursed Mountain created with Sproing Interactive is the only notable release. The PS3, PC and Xbox 360 project Road to Hell will be unaffected by this development, and will continue development at British studio Eutechnyx while Koch manages the title from Munich.
