American McGee Studio Gets Layoffs
One of American McGee’s studios, in this case the Shanghai studio Spicy Horse, has been reduced from a full studio to a core team. When asked about it being shut down, he responded on Twitter:
“No. Some people let go earlier this week, but the studio remains as does a core team who will pivot away from F2P.”
McGee let a more detailed statement out on NeoGaf.
“Just wanted to let everyone know Spicy Horse did reduce staff earlier this week, but a core team will remain in the studio and we’ll be announcing new projects soon.
“The remaining team will continue to support our existing and recently launched mobile F2P titles. As has been mentioned in this thread, the F2P space has become quite brutal in recent years, and after five years and seven titles, I feel it’s time we pivot to something new.”
McGee is most famous for his Alice in Wonderland games, and though he’s up for making another one, he maintains that they can make more than just that.
“While I do maintain an ongoing dialog with several folks at EA, our conversations are not exclusively about Alice,” said McGee. “When we do speak of Alice, there’s interest, but getting a solid commitment takes time. Remember, there was almost a decade between the first Alice game and the second.”