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It’s being rumoured that Sony has cancelled an in-development shooter at Final Strike Games – previously responsible for Rocket Arena – resulting in 40% of the studio’s workforce being laid off.
That’s according to Twitter user Timur222, who claims the unannounced project was in development at the studio for the last three years, although it was still 2 years away from being announced. Timur claims he got this information after being contacted by a former developer on the project, though the rumour has also been bolstered after a number of other employees at the studio confirmed their departure on LinkedIn as seen on the profile of former Software Engineer Ahmed Khalifa.
The studio itself doesn’t have that many games under its belt – but they do include 2020 EA-published shooter Rocket Arena as well as working on live services for Epic Games’ Fortnite. The studio’s website says it’s currently working on an ‘unannounced New IP AAA PVP shooter for PVP and console” and as of today is still advertising for a Senior Technical Animator and Technical Art Director.
At the time of writing, there’s been no official response from PlayStation or Final Strike on the layoffs or rumours, so as of right now it’s not clear of the veracity of the story. However, the news does come just a few days following the announcement that PlayStation was shutting down Concrete Genie developers PixelOpus last week.
In a statement on that studio’s closure to IGN, Sony said “PlayStation Studios regularly evaluates its portfolio and the status of studio projects to ensure they meet the organization’s short and long-term strategic objectives. As part of a review process, it has been decided that PixelOpus will close on June 2.”
We’ll update should we hear official word from either PlayStation or Final Strike. Our thoughts are with all those affected by the layoffs.
