Rockstar New England, formerly known as Mad Doc Software, is rumored to have laid off at least ten percent of its workforce.
Kotaku says “several sources” have confirmed that the entire QA department has been cut, along with artists and a few others in other departments. Rockstar is apparently “not enthusiastic” about its studios having internal QA departments and one source claims the layoffs are part of an effort to have all such responsibilities handled by one dedicated QA studio.
Rockstar New England was originally founded in 1999 as Mad Doc Software and has worked on games including Star Trek: Armada II, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna and the Empire Earth expansion The Art of Conquest. Its biggest success came with Empire Earth II in 2005; in early 2008 it ported Bully to the Xbox 360 in the form of Bully: Scholarship Edition and in April of that year was acquired and renamed by Rockstar.
Rockstar has not confirmed the layoffs but according to reports is being “fairly generous” with the former employees and is taking steps to help some of them find other employment.
