Citing an inability to find funding for Six Days in Fallujah, the controversial shooter project that Konami announced and dropped earlier this year, developer Atomic Games has cut some positions. This probably explains yesterday's story from GamesIndustry.biz's Phil Elliott, which stated that the game's creative director, Juan Benito, was out.
Here's the full statement from Atomic:
You know, the whole "badly wounded" bit feels a little tasteless to me, as if the company is somehow comparing its experiences in sitting safely behind desks and thinking about war to the Marines that were out, you know, fighting said war. But then, that vibe sort of fits the entire project, doesn't it?Due to a mixture of fears about the edgy subject matter of Six Days in Fallujah, as well as low videogame sales this summer, we have been unable to secure full-scale funding from a major publisher for Six Days in Fallujah. This has caused us to reduce the size of our studio today.
In the words of Marine officer Chesty Puller, "We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem." Development at Atomic will continue with a smaller team that will be funded by our sister company, Destineer.
We wish to assure the dozens of Marine veterans who have collectively invested hundreds of hours in this project that, while we have been badly wounded, we will fight on. The stories of your brothers' courage and sacrifice in Fallujah must be shared with the world.
All of the 75 people in the Atomic studio have stayed with us until this week. This is a testament not just to their commitment to Six Days in Fallujah, but also to their character when faced with adversity and personal financial risk. We encourage videogame development studios wishing to speak with the many talented and loyal staff who are affected by this situation to contact the jobs page on the atomic.com web site.