"Massive" lay-offs at Silicon Knights - report

By Fred Dutton Published 31 October, 2011

Too Human studio in trouble?

A round of redundancies has hit Denis Dyack's Silicon Knights studio, reducing the payroll from nearly 100 down to just 25, according to a 1Up report.

The site claims two separate insider sources have confirmed the lay-offs, which apparently include Dyack's wife who worked in human resources.

The developer is yet to offer an official comment - we'll update when it does.

The report comes just a few weeks after the studio wrapped-up critically-mauled superhero tie-in X-Men: Destiny for Activision. Other titles on its CV include storied 2008 action RPG Too Human and GameCube survival horror classic Eternal Darkness.

Earlier this year, the studio announced that it had secured a $3 million dollar investment package from the Ontario government allowing it to recruit new staff and become "self-sustaining".

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • miiiguel #1 7 months ago

    I liked Too Human quite a bit, lots of charisma. Pre ordered X Men Destiny, didn't care about the poor reviews. Reviews were right.

  • Nostrus #2 7 months ago

    A shame, I liked Too Human as well.

  • insincere_dave #3 7 months ago

    Good. Dyack is a prick.

    Obviously it's not ideal that people lose their jobs but if you consistently make bad games, you're going to go bust.

  • Eraysor #4 7 months ago

    This is what happens when you don't make Eternal Darkness 2. The halloween spirits are not amused!

  • Cjail #5 7 months ago

    I feared this would have happened, quite sad actually because they are for sure a quality studio and Eternal Darkness & Blood Omen are still two superb games!

  • madeinbeats #6 7 months ago

    Eternal Darkness is a stupidly good game. The should make a new one for the U! Well, as long as they thought they could do it justice.

  • oceanmotion #7 7 months ago

    How on earth did they actually last this long in the first place.

    Hopefully the talent can be better used elsewhere and Dyack can look in the mirror.

  • doragonpawwa #8 7 months ago

    Just make Blood Omen 3.... oh wait

  • Darth_Flibble #9 7 months ago

    What happened to all the Canadian government funding invested for new staff?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Knights#Government_funding
    In July 2011, Silicon Knights received nearly 3 million in provincial funding to improve its technology, create new products and become a self-publishing company. Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, said the investment will allow the company to improve its technology, hire 80 new people while keeping 97 current jobs and allow the company to become "self sustaining." In September of 2011, after completing X-Men: Destiny, Silicon Knights laid off 15 employees, and has not yet come through on their commitment to hire new staff as was ear-marked to be done with the free taxpayers dollars they have received.
    I have a few guesses.....

  • Darth_Flibble #10 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:45 12-12-2011

  • IncredibleKoosh #11 7 months ago

    The word 'Activision' stands out.

  • mr2ange #12 7 months ago

    Never gave a crap about too human,

    But Eternal Darkness was a one of a kind. Excellent game. Pity so see such high numbers being laid off, thats like 80%!!! damn...

  • ryandsimmons #13 7 months ago

    If they made Eternal Darkness 2 instead of the other shit I would rob a bank to get everyone rehired.

  • GamesConnoisseur #14 7 months ago

    Too Human was reasonably fun, the famed multiple death animations grated but the style and the vast scales of the game could have been appreciated more if the story was a bit more appealing and immersive.

    Eternal Darkness stood tall for me too, a real pity that those potentials weren't better realised, so begs the questions what the hell happened?!

  • repeater #15 7 months ago

    Human, all too human

  • drjitz #16 7 months ago

    This will be an interesting story when it all comes out. What happened with X-Men Destiny development? Was it Activision that that rushed the release, or did Silicon Knights run out of money and Activision refuse to further fund the development? Too Human was an honest mistake on SK's part, it wasn't meant to be a bad game, it just didn't ever click. X-Men Destiny is just awful. In today's day and age, successful companies go broke...let alone one's that make two bad games in a row.

  • Stuz359 #17 7 months ago

    Not much to say about this, but they didn't make a decent game in years, that surely is natural selection at work. Feel sorry for the people who lost their jobs though, more than likely not their fault while the people who made the decisions kept theirs.

  • Stomp224 #18 7 months ago

    'Too Human studio in trouble?'

    I think the answer is in the question....

  • Machetazo #19 7 months ago

    Half-baked X-game, FU ACTIVISION!! That's all the Destiny you caused. >:( It is sad news for makers of Too Human, and Eternal Darkness. What has been going on?
    Edited by Machetazo at 01/11/11 @ 00:22

  • sethsez #20 7 months ago

    Never understood the appeal of Eternal Darkness. Environments repeated an obscene amount (my biggest complaint... I can't think of a game that recycles its levels more than this, and then the game tries to make you go through it three times to get the real ending... it hardly had enough content to fill a single playthrough, let alone three!), combat was clunky, the magic system was an extremely cool concept that never really blossomed like it should have, most of the insanity effects were silly, etc. It feels like most of the admiration came from the concept rather than the execution, and from the rather dire game lineup the Gamecube had at the time.

    When Too Human came out and got reamed for being a clunky and repetitive waste of a cool concept, I remember wondering if that might cause people to re-evaluate ED as well, but it never happened.

    Honestly, I never thought Silicon Knights amounted to much. Legacy of Kain got far better in the hands of Crystal Dynamics, all the best aspects of Twin Snakes were the direct result of Konami, I've already stated why I didn't care for Eternal Darkness, and the new X-Men game was a dud. It sucks to see anyone lose their jobs, but it's hard to say they've been earning their reputation lately.

  • mushroomyakuza #21 7 months ago

    Shit! Anybody listen to the FilmJunk or GameJunk podcasts? Some of the hosts work for Silicon Knights...wonder if Sean and Frank have been cut?

    Hearing about companies axing people is one thing, but when it's people you actually know of, respect and admire, it really puts things into perspective. And the sad truth is, this is a relatively small downsizing - plenty of people across the whole industry are losing jobs but it always feels a million miles away when it's reported as numbers and figures.

    Each of those 75 people is now out of a job and probably panicking about the future...this is awful :(.

  • strangerism #22 7 months ago

    maybe the wife retaliated by laying off the other 74 human resources
    Edited by strangerism at 01/11/11 @ 01:39

  • RedSparrows #23 7 months ago

    I loved Too Human. Too Human 2 will appear! I HAVE FAITH!

  • stryker1121 #24 7 months ago

    This is what happens when your planned trilogy goes tits up after one game. Too Human was a massive disappointment IMO. The combat just never clicked for me. THe biggest crime was how grindy it felt even after a few hours. All the weapons felt the same, too, and the overworld and dungeon locations just felt empty to me. In conclusion, I did not like this game. Eternal Darkness on the other hand was a great game and a Gamecube fave. Would love to see a multi-platform ED2 some day.

  • anomagnus #25 7 months ago

    Like many others, i loved too human. I had hoped for a sequel, but thats becoming less and less likely it seems

  • dagas #26 7 months ago

    Eternal Darkness was my favorite Gamecube game. But you can't survive based on decade old merits in this industry.

  • Subdominator #27 7 months ago

    Hmm, so they get three million in July, think about hiring 80 people to the existing 97 and three months later they reduce from 100 to 25? :D However I wouldn't fear the worst. Nowadays a lot of developers use short term contracts to have the manpower when they need them. Which is typically towards the end of development. During the beginning of development of a new product it makes no sense to have all those artists, sound designers etc. available, when you're waiting for your game designers or programmers to lay the foundations. That is if you are an indie developer. If you're working for someone like EA they just move their 500+ texture artists to whatever project is currently in need of additional people.

  • Bennicus #28 7 months ago

    iphone development next then chaps?

  • SheffAl #29 7 months ago

    Shame i liked eternal darkness and that PS1 Kain game (a cool old style action rpg). But their recent output has been poor.

  • 32768Colours #30 7 months ago

    Earlier this year, the studio announced that it had secured a $3 million dollar investment package from the Ontario government allowing it to recruit new staff and become "self-sustaining".

    ..and how is getting $3m from the government "self-sustaining"? Sounds like a hand-out to me.

    Sad though it is for the folks who've got laid off, its got to be said that this is hardly surprising, given that they've had no critical success for the best part of a decade.

    I have a feeling that SK's problems probably come more from the studio's top brass than the staff. In that sense, even reducing the studio to a two man operation may be doomed to failure.

  • slow2run #31 7 months ago

    Stop the press massive layoffs at Silicon Knights.

    No shit!