Layoffs at Black Rock Studios

Around 100 staff are at risk of being let off at Disney Interactive‘s Black Rock Studio, according to a source within the Brighton-based developer.

“It seems Disney have been unable to provide us with a project to work on, and our concept pitches clearly haven’t gone down well (despite there being many of them),” the source told Eurogamer.

The developer released the ATV racer Pure in 2008, followed by Split/Second in 2010. Work had begun on sequels to both.

“After SS wrapped, we started work on SS2 pre-prod which was cancelled last December due to DIS’s new management and their changing priorities (the push towards freemium etc) – SS2 didn’t really fit in with that (despite some efforts to shoehorn it in).

Though, even with the layoffs, the source revealed that a “good proportion” of the studio are still employed and at work on a “promising title.” He explained that the project was “new and risky, so I imagine [Disney] don’t want to risk putting two teams on it.”

When questioned for comment, Disney Interactive confirmed a reduction of its staff, but didn’t provide numbers.