Lionhead Slims Down

March 6, 2006 3:30 PM

Stemming from post on a fan site for Lionhead's The Movies (PC), speculation started circulating late last week that Peter Molyneux's studio was letting go of some hundred developers and dropping support of The Movies. This was partially confirmed on Lionhead's official boards; a Lionhead team member stated that Lionhead is reorganizing its development structure and will lay off an unspecified number of employees, but noted that support for The Movies will continue. A commercial expansion pack for the game is known to be in the works. The team member also noted that Lionhead will be slimming down to two teams from its prior three, one of which is working on a next-gen project.

Over the last few months Lionhead has been working on plans for a new AAA world class game. As work on a number of its titles draws to a close, a pool of 100 super talented developers at Lionhead are available to create a new super team at Lionhead. This will be in addition to an existing team which is working on an amazing next generation title. This strategy was presented to Lionhead this morning in a company meeting but sadly it will mean some redundancies.

Today, a Lionhead representative confirmed to Next Generation the precise details of the situation. The studio will be letting go of 50 staffers, approximately 20% of its workforce, bringing the company's total headcount to 200. It was also revealed that the main team has been working on its project for a year or so. Lionhead will also maintain a small team for prototyping game concepts. It is unknown whether either project in development is related to Molyneux's longstanding Project Dimitri or the portal-centric game demo he showcased at last year's Game Developers Conference.

Chris Remo

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