Update: IndustryGamers was contacted by a Real rep, who issued some clarifications on the story. "We have not 'axed' our Casual Games Division. GameHouse will continue making traditional casual downloadable games, in addition to the company’s ongoing commitment to mobile games and increased focus on social games. GameHouse continues to invest in new and existing IP content through the efforts of its first party studio in Eindhoven as well as global publishing and distributing relationships with developer partners. Finally, we are no longer using the RealGames name, and have recently rolled all operations under the GameHouse brand," the rep stated.
Original story:
A series of massive cuts in the Seattle-based RealNetworks has found the company's first-party casual games development branch (which rebranded as GameHouse in May) effectively shut down. Only a Facebook development team and a barebones staff of casual PC game designers now remain. Real announced earlier this week that it would be slashing 85 positions in an effort to "reduce the spans and layers of management to create greater efficiency, teamwork and customer focus." This follows a similar cut of 60 employees three months ago.
An internal source told Gamasutra that "Real has completely disbanded its first party studio." The source notes that this continues "a batch of layoffs once every quarter since last August." The source says that Gamehouse, the company's game portal, can no longer develop traditional casual PC titles. The disbanded team was responsible for both the Super Collapse and Little Shop brands.
Gamehouse will continue to function, selling titles for third-party developers. In addition, Real will shift its focus to creating Facebook games and seeking second-party development contracts for future titles.
The source speculated that "once we're all gone they're going to sell the [RealGames] name and IP."
RealNetworks said in a statement that it expects to incur a $3 million loss due to staff restructuring and another $7 million loss due to now-vacant office facilities. These losses will be reflected in this year's financial results.
