Activision lays off staff at Guitar Hero Live developer FreeStyle

Activision representatives confirmed to Game Informer today that a number of people have been laid off from Guitar Hero Live developer FreeStyle Games, which will now focus on supporting the game rather than developing new projects.

This is in line with comments made in February during Activision Blizzard's holiday earnings report, which was worse than expected; the company noted at the time that there would be no new Guitar Hero games for the current generation of consoles after Guitar Hero Live's performance proved "underwhelming."

Shortly thereafter, word began to spread of cutbacks across the company, including at FreeStyle, which Activision acquired nearly a decade ago. Gamasutra reached out to studio representatives for more details at the time, but received no response.

Today, however, Activision representatives confirmed to Game Informer that following a consultation period (which is often mandatory for employers laying off people in the U.K.) an unspecified number of FreeStyle employees lost their jobs since "the decision has been made to restructure FreeStyle Games to better align the studio with future business needs."

As always, if you or someone you know was affected by this decision you can email Gamasutra to tell your story confidentially.