The last game from Canadian developer Silicon Knights, X-Men Destiny, was not received well at all, and did little to restore a once beloved studio’s image after its last divisive release, Too Human.
1UP reports Silicon Knights has been hit with massive layoffs, citing multiple sources informing them the company has shrunk from 97 to 25 employees. In other words, most of the company is now gone.
So far, the report has not been confirmed or denied by Silicon Knights. I contacted president and founder Denis Dyack directly, but have yet to hear back from the normally outspoken game creator.
Worth noting: the news was filed by Andrew McMillen, the same reporter who broke the story about Team Bondi’s controversial work conditions over the course of making this year’s L.A. Noire. He knows his stuff.
McMillen had apparently been trying to nail down an interview time with Dyack to discuss another topic, based on other reports that names of employees who left Silicon Knights were being axed from the credits section of X-Men Destiny prior to the game’s completion. Those names apparently then appeared in a “special thanks” section.