Namco Hometek Cancels Internal Project, Lays Off Staff

Namco Hometek, the U.S. development and publishing division of Japanese publishing giant Namco Ltd, has released a formal statement to Gamasutra revealing development layoffs at the San Jose, CA based company, following independent information to that effect. The statement reads: "Namco Hometek Inc. recently made the decision to discontinue one of its internally-developed products, resulting in the need to eliminate the positions of people assigned to the project. No other areas of the Company were affected. Namco Hometek’s commitment to internal product development remains intact and continues to be an integral part of Namco Hometek’s strategy for growth and success in the U.S. market." Namco Hometek, the company's only North American development location, has previously developed titles such as Pac-Man World, kill.switch, and Dead To Rights, and is currently known to be developing action sequel Dead To Rights 2 for an early 2005 release, as well a briefly shown action title named The Adversary. There's no official word on the exact amount of employees laid off, although independent sources have indicated to Gamasutra that around 20 of the 30 internal development staff at Namco Hometek were let go.