Motiga, developer of free-to-play hero shooter Gigantic, nearly shut down last year when boss Chris Chung gathered all 75 employees and told them that the studio had run out of money. But the team showed up to work regardless, and soldiered on until publisher Perfect Games swooped in to acquire the company. Unfortunately, Perfect Games has now decided that the developer isn’t profitable enough, and has closed Motiga’s doors once and for all.
That’s according to Motiga chief executive Chris Chung, who told Destructoid: “It was a budgetary decision at the highest level. Perfect World as a public company has a profitability goal and they decided to cut parts of the company that were not profitable. In short, Gigantic was not making enough revenue.”
It’s not clear exactly how many staff are affected—the image at the top of this article, tweeted by a former employee, shows nearly 100 people. A handful will remain to maintain Gigantic “until some time in the future when it doesn’t make sense anymore”, Chung said.
He added: “Today was a tough day for all of us who have been part of this extraordinary journey. We wish the best for everyone that were impacted and we will do everything we can to help them find a new home.”
Today marks the end of Motiga and my time with an absolutely amazing team. If anyone is hiring, we’re all looking! November 2, 2017
It might not be the last we hear of it, either. Chung said that “Motiga is not the only Perfect World studio being impacted by the decision”. Perfect World has a number of subsidiary developers: in 2010 it acquired a majority stake in Torchlight and Hob developer Runic Games, and it also owns Cryptic Studios, developer of City of Heroes and Star Trek Online.
Perfect World has not yet broken its silence on the matter.