Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has confirmed the layoff of about 60 people at the Seattle-area game studios. Those studios include Snowblind Studios, Monolith Productions, and Surreal Software. The company did not give specifics of what positions were cut, or at which studios. The news was first revealed by a tweet from 3D Realms director George Broussard, stating “Warner Brothers Games lays off 60ish across multiple Seattle studios. Good luck, guys.”
The cuts come after the launch of the Lord of the Rings: War in the North on November 1 for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, from Snowblind Studios. It's not clear if the layoffs were related to the end of the project, though that is not uncommon at development houses when there's no new project ready.
A WBIE representative confirmed layoffs for GameSpot, saying, “As part of the continual review of our business operations and fluctuating market conditions, we have had to make reductions in our WB Games Seattle workforce.”
