Singularity developer Raven Software has reportedly cut about 40 people from its workforce as it shifts focus from game development to making downloadable content.
It hasn’t been a very good day for videogame developers. First we got the news of cuts at n-Space and now comes a report that roughly 40 people have been let go from Raven, the long-standing studio whose past projects include Quake 4, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Wolfenstein and most recently the FPS Singularity. Parent company Activision said, “With the recent completion of Singularity, Raven Software is realigning its workforce to better reflect the studio’s upcoming slate.”
Kotaku sources interpreted that statement as an indication of Raven’s shift to DLC creation, which fits with reports that emerged earlier this year that Raven had been pulled off its latest project so it could work on making map packs for Call of Duty: Black Ops instead. Raven was previously hit with layoffs in August 2009 following the completion of Wolfenstein and the movie-based X-Men Origins: Wolverine; Kotaku said that round of layoffs had reduced Raven from three development teams to two, while the most recent layoffs leave it with just one.
Raven Software was founded in 1990 and quickly established its reputation with classics like Shadowcaster, Heretic, Hexen and Soldier of Fortune. The studio was acquired by Activision in 1997.
