Report: Radical To Lay Off Almost Half Of Staff

Vancouver-based developer Radical Entertainment (Prototype) will lay off about 100 employees, nearly half of its staff, according to a new report from newspaper The Vancouver Sun. Parent company Activision, which acquired Radical in July 2008 as part of its merger with Vivendi Games, gave notice of the reduction in a July 29th statement. In that official statement, the firm explained that "...the company intends to adapt the Vivendi Games' studio operations to better align the studio structure against the new product slate. The company will realign staffing at Radical Entertainment and High Moon Studios." Gamasutra reported yesterday that San Diego-based developer High Moon Studios (The Bourne Supremacy) laid off a significant portion of its personnel, and awaited comment on Radical's staffing change. Radical Entertainment's vice president of human resources Leah Rubin confirmed to the Sun that Activision Blizzard cut the number of Radical's titles currently under development from four games to two, the remaining titles being Prototype and Crash: Mind Over Mutant. Thus, it appears that the studio's sequel to 2006's Scarface: The World Is Yours has been canceled. Said Rubin: "Activision Blizzard is committed to making the best games possible and has elected at this time to reduce the number of titles that Radical is developing from four games to two. Therefore, we will be proportionately reducing the size of our studio."