Eurocom, Studio Behind 007 Legends, Lays Off Most of Staff

[Shawn Zipay]

Eurocom, the development studio behind 007 Legends, has laid off a "majority" of its workers as part of a "restructuring" move. According to GI.biz, only 50 of the staff will remain with the studio while 150 were laid off earlier today.

The Director, Hugh Binns, blames a "decline in demand for console games" as part of the problem.

"Eurocom are undertaking a restructuring which I regret to say has meant we've made the majority of our workforce redundant today.

"This includes many very experienced, talented and highly skilled employees, and we'd like to thank them all for your hard work and efforts.

"We've fought to try and save as many jobs as possible, but the steep decline in demand for console games, culminating in a number of console projects falling through in the last week, left us with no option. Eurocom has retained a core staff of just under 50 employees and will be focusing mainly on mobile opportunities moving forward."

Not to point fingers or anything, but I don't think it was a "decline in the demand for console games" that is the problem here.

Still, job losses are never a good thing. Best of luck to those 150 employees now out of a job.

(via GI.biz)

[K-16]

"We've fought to try and save as many jobs as possible, but the steep decline in demand for console games, culminating in a number of console projects falling through in the last week, left us with no option. Eurocom has retained a core staff of just under 50 employees and will be focusing mainly on mobile opportunities moving forward."

Wow... There's 50 executive and senior staff in Eurocom? I mean, obviously the jobs saved were people who are at the top of the payroll, and people who directed the game. But damn... That's a lot of people with Golden Parachutes who get to keep their jobs. Would've expected 25 employees saved, not 50. I guess Eurocom is pretty rich to afford that many people with salaries higher than a family could spend in a year. Meanwhile the people who were there to complete the project, and had nothing to do with the product's mediocre quality are now seeking unemployment insurance (game wasn't broken, just poorly designed to rush out in time for the movie release so by all means it is a complete game). Can't say I'm happy that the person who designed the boxing simulator for EVERY SINGLE BOSS FIGHT gets to keep his/her job just because of seniority. Least there won't be another console/PC game anytime soon.

Heheh... Focusing on mobile opportunities huh?... So I guess that means there will be plenty of cell phone mini-games such as detonate the bomb, line up the signal and hack, and take HD pictures. Just like 007's authentic gadgetry. That'll be a real winner with your under 50 staff. Least you'll finally put the Sony Xyperia license to good use with the franchise (the phone doesn't suck, I meant they've been underutilizing their sponsorship).