Entire Annapurna Game Team Resigns, Leaves Partners in Panic

Annapurna Interactive's entire video game team resigned. The development comes after failed negotiations to convince Megan Ellison to let them spin off its games division into a new company.

The studio is known for a lot of popular titles that were released in the last few years. Some of the company's projects include Stray, where players take control of a cat. Former president Nathan Gary and staffers made the announcement of the decision.

Annapurna Interactive Team Resigns

The team's statement said that all 25 members of the company's gaming arm collectively resigned. They added it was one of the most difficult decisions that they ever had to make.

An Annapurna spokesperson reassured that existing games and projects will still be under the company. However, they did not immediately reply to a request for comment regarding the situation, according to TheVerge.

A report last week noted that Gary and the co-heads of Annapurna Interactive, Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella, were leaving the company. Annapurna reportedly planned to "integrate its in-house gaming operations with the rest of its divisions."

Annapurna Interactive co-founder Hector Sanchez said last month that he would become president of interactive and new media at Annapurna. The development comes as the company's film art has won countless awards for a variety of films.

In a statement, Ellison said that their top priority is continuing to support their developer and publishing partners during this transition. She said that they are committed to their existing games but also expanding their presence, said Bloomberg.

The mass resignation caused chaos as game developers who are partnered with Annapurna are trying to figure out what will happen next. Particularly, they are thinking about what the situation means for their upcoming projects.

The Future of the Company

The publisher is responsible for funding the games and handling services such as quality assurance, adapting the products for local markets, and marketing.

In the last few days, game makers working with Annapurna scrambled to find new points of contact and know if the company will continue to honor its agreements.

Annapurna Interactive is well-known for its publishing catalog of amazing indie video games. In recent news, the studio also partnered with Remedy Entertainment to bring live-action adaptations of TV series or movies of the Alan Wake and Control franchises.

It hasn't been all rainbows for the company as it has also been the subject of an investigative report by People Make Games. The latter alleged that the studio supported multiple company founders who were known to be creating toxic work environments at partner studios, according to IGN.