The game development company behind the massively multiplayer game "EVE Online" has announced that it is laying off more than 100 employees — or roughly 20 percent of its staff.
CCP Games, which has also been hard at work on the PlayStation 3 shooter "DUST 514" and the massively multiplayer online game "World of Darkness," issued a press release stating that most of the staff will be cut from their Atlanta office, though the company will also cut some staff from their office in Reykjavik, Iceland.
"...we have come to the conclusion that we are attempting too many things for a company our size," reads the announcement. "Developing EVE expansions, DUST 514 and World of Darkness has stretched our resources too thin."
Despite the cutbacks, CCP reassures "EVE Online" players that the space-faring game is in "good health," this despite the fact their subscriber numbers have dropped during the past two months. The loss came thanks in part to an uproar among the "EVE" community over changes made to the game and CCP's interaction with its players.
Still, "our subscriber numbers are higher today than they were a year ago," CCP insists. "Unlike many other MMO's on the market, we have continued to grow year-on-year since launch in 2003."
In fact, in cutting back their staff and reorganizing, they say they plan to refocus on "EVE Online" and the launch of the "EVE" universe massively-multiplayer shooter "DUST 514."
And CCP says work on "World of Darkness" will continue ... though with a much smaller team.
"...we need more time to continue to develop ('World of Darkness') before dedicating the substantial resources required to bring this experience to market," says CCP.
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Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+ . And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.
