A great chaos has broken out inside AnnapurnaInteractivewith theentire publisher staff that is discharged en masseas a protest against the company’s owner, Megan Ellison, following a failed negotiation.
The team, led by president Nathan Gary, was negotiating with Ellison (daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison), the video game division split from the rest of the company, to make it an independent entity, at least until a few weeks ago.
The owner has however negotiations interrupted causing the agreement to fall through completely, which sparked protests from Annapurna Interactive’s management and employees, who decided to resign en masse.
A publisher in chaos
“All 25 members of Annapurna Interactive have collectively resigned,” Gary and his team said in an official statement. “This has been the most difficult decision we have ever had to make, and we did not make it lightly.”
A spokesperson for the publisher explained to Bloomberg, which is reporting on the matter, that Annapurna had indeed tried to reach an agreement for the separation but the negotiations failed, leading to the current situation.
“Our top priority is to continue to Support our development partners and publishing during this transition,” Ellison said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “We are committed not only to our current catalog of games, but also to expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to seek opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across film and TV, gaming and theater.”
The employee exodus has obviously brought chaos to the publisher, especially as it is currently in the midst of several projects from indie teams linked to the company for publishing and production, but an Annapurna spokesperson clarified that all announced games and ongoing projects will remain under the label in question.
The new president, Hector Sanchez, has already told the various developers that Annapurna will remain bound to all existing contracts and will replace the departed staff, although there is nothing official about this yet.
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