Activision Cuts 30 Staffers At 7 Studios

Activision has laid off around 30 people from its 7 Studios, in a move it says will serve the studio's realignment to focus on the music genre. Activision acquired 7 Studios in April of this year, while the financially-embattled developer was still at work on Genius Products' turnable-equipped Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. Activision's own turntable game, DJ Hero, launches at the end of this month. "Since the completion of its acquisition by Activision, 7 Studios has realigned its business to focus its development resources on the music genre," a rep told consumer weblog Kotaku. "As a part of this realignment, the studio is reducing its workforce to better reflect Activision's upcoming slate of music-based games." The 7 Studios acquisition became a central factor in a turntable game legal battle between Activision and Genius; the latter, along with turntable maker Numark, sued the publisher, alleging the buy was part of a conspiracy to delay Scratch and steal trade secrets. Activision denies the allegations, claiming that it aimed to provide the developer with needed financial aid. 7 Studios filed a counter-suit alleging Genius, a DVD distributor making its first steps into video game publishing, bungled the development process, failing to deliver needed materials and causing production delays for Scratch. Founded in 1999, the Los Angeles-based 7 Studios was one of Inc. Magazine's 500 fastest-growing companies in 2007, a year that saw median revenue of $9.4 million. It's worked on titles including including Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Shrek The Third, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.