MMO developer Spacetime Studios is laying off about half of its 32-person staff as it struggles to find a publishing deal for its
Blackstar IP.
Spacetime previously had an agreement with NCsoft to publish the science-fiction MMO, but in January of this year, the publisher
canceled the project. Since then, the developer says it's been self-funded during its search for a new deal.
"We have been shopping
Blackstar around, but right now, at least,the concept of a SciFi space/ground IP has proven to be a challenge," says Spacetime on its
official blog.
"Our studio cannot survive at its current burn rate without a publishing deal, so we face a necessary (though very difficult and painful) decision," reads the recent post. "We are scaling down from thirty-two down to sixteen folks in the hopes of developing a pitch, a prototype and another publishing deal."
