Activision Continues Cutting Swath

Saw over on Gamasutra that Activision has rendered the latest victims of the ongoing restructuring of its development resources, cutting 100 positions from the staff of ProtoType maker Radical Entertainment. This is just a day after a similar fate befell another Activision studio, High Moon. As we've discussed before, it's no surprise that a single corporate entity, even one as massive as the Activision Blizzard juggernaut, doesn't want to support the full production slates of two independent top-tier publishers, so a little fat-trimming here and there is expected. That makes sense in the world of cold hard numbers and corporate bottom lines, but it's hard not to pour out a little of one's 40 when this many hardworking people are out of their jobs. (Not that I'm drinking a 40 at 9am, but you get the idea.)

I can't help wondering where this leaves ProtoType, a game I feel like I've heard a lot of good stuff about over the past year. It's still more than six months from release, so this isn't Activision pulling a LucasArts and axing a bunch of the staff right after they've wrapped up the significant work on the game. At least Radical's corporate messaging makes it sound like the ProtoType team is unaffected:

Radical Entertainment's vice president of human resources Leah Rubin confirmed to the Sun that Activision Blizzard cut the number of Radical's titles currently under development from four games to two...

That jives with the the recent reports that the company has let plans lapse for a new Scarface game, as well. Let's keep our fingers crossed all these corporate shenanigans will lead to fewer, better games when the dust settles. It's just a grueling process when so many people's lives are affected in the interim.