Annapurna Interactive Staff Leaves Company Over Spin-Off Dispute
As reported at Bloomberg, the entire team of Annapurna Interactive under President Nathan Gary has resigned after spin-off talks with company ownership have failed. The new President Hector Sanchez and the mother company ensure that current games projects as well as the film rights for Alan Wake are unaffected.
As Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports, the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the publishing division of Annapurna Pictures, has left the company. According to the report, the reason was a failed attempt to spin off the games division into an independent company. Megan Ellison, owner of the company, has supposedly pulled out of the negotiations, after which Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary the entire team resigned. “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,” Gary confirmed in a statement. Their next steps are as of yet unknown, but a separate studio founding seems likely.
A spokesperson for Annapurna Films has confirmed to Bloomberg that a spin-off move was explored and then failed. They also emphasised that all games currently in publishing with Annapurna Interactive will remain. Game developer studios however report, according to Bloomberg, difficulties to get in contact with Annapurna over the last few days. By now, a new president has been appointed for Annapurna Interactive, namely Hector Sanchez.
Annapurna also says that the recent deal with Remedy over financing Control 2 and the film and TV rights for the Control and Alan Wake universes is unaffected, since the movie team is not affected by the situation.