Oddworld Inhabitants, creator of the
Abe and
Munch's Oddyssee games, as well as the recent
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, has confirmed that it is closing its San Luis Obispo, CA headquarters, and is downsizing the company to move it to the Bay Area. In a statement from Lorne Lanning, the co-founder of the company, to consumer site GameSpy, Lanning called the move "a choice, not a necessity."
The company will continue under the same name at a new Berkeley office (likely the same as the Emeryville location
advertised at GDC 2005, since the geographical areas intersect), but with a different business model. The new Oddworld Inhabitants will apparently consist of a smaller group focusing on developing ideas and concepts designed to be outsourced to other teams, rather than maintaining a large staff to develop its own properties. This business model seems very similar to Alex Seropian's new developer
Wideload Games, which will debut its first title,
Stubbs the Zombie, in late 2005.
Commenting on the move to GameSpy, Lanning said: "Running the operation as we have been has limited the amount of opportunities we can pursue. We have no regrets, but to continue this way, we'd have to keep turning down opportunities we've always seen as the future."
