Edge of Twilight Dev Fuzzyeyes Lays Off 'Majority' Of Studio

Fuzzyeyes Studio, the independent development house creating the multiplatform action/adventure game Edge of Twilight, laid off most of its staff in late September and is halting internal development for an indefinite period of time, according to a public announcement by the company. "Fuzzyeyes was confronted with number of challenges, including economic downturn and some legal complications," reads an official statement attributed to CEO Wei-Yao Lu. Founded in 2001 and based in Brisbane, Australia, Fuzzyeyes released Hot Dog King: A Fast Food Empire for PC in 2007, and the same year announced the more ambitious Edge of Twilight for PC and Xbox 360 (PlayStation 3 was later added as an additional target platform), with SouthPeak serving as publisher. The game was revealed to be set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world, with a strong focus on storytelling. According to Lu's statement, the company is paring down its staff to a skeleton crew while it completes a financial transaction, begun in October, that will see an unnamed third-party entity take control of an unspecified percentage of the studio's shares. Some of the company's employees have apparently already been promised job offers in "early 2010" when that new arrangement is finalized. Fuzzyeyes was previously known to have operated additional offices in Taipei, Beijing, and Singapore. It is unknown if those locations are still open, but Lu stressed that the Brisbane office is still operational in its scaled-down format, and outsourced development continues. The full statement is as follows: "On 30th of September, FUZZYEYES has let go the majority of staffs as FUZZYEYES was confronted with number of challenges, including economic downturn and some legal complications. In order to reduce the operating cost during this problematic time, FUZZYEYES came to a difficult and unfortunate decision to reduce the number of staffs to a minimum. "On 5th of October, FUZZYEYES has struck a deal to sell portion of shares to a third party company. During this transition period, FUZZYEYES will temporarily seize further development on any project. However, FUZZYEYES is still in business and the office is still open. "Until the transition is fully settled, FUZZYEYES will suspend all onsite development, but all out sourced development is still on going. FUZZYEYES will be back in full operation after the settlement, and a number of FUZZYEYES ex-employees has been offered a position in early 2010. Further details will be released once the transition has fully completed."