The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video game publishing arm of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna studio, resigned this month amid a dispute with its owner.
Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team have been in talks with Ellison, the daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, to spin off the video game division into a separate entity. When Ellison withdrew from negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned, followed by about two dozen other employees.
“All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team have resigned en masse,” Gary and the team said in a joint statement. “This is one of the hardest decisions we have ever made, and we do not take this action lightly.”
An Annapurna spokesman confirmed the company had considered a spin-off and said the resignations were prompted by the parties’ failure to reach an agreement.
“Our first priority is to continue to support our developers and publishing partners during this transition,” Ellison said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “We are not only committed to our existing games, but also to expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to telling linear and interactive stories across film, television, games and theater.”
The exodus has led to confusion, with game developers working with Annapurna to try to figure out what this means for their upcoming projects. As publisher, Annapurna is not only responsible for financing the game but also handling services such as quality assurance, adapting the product to local markets and marketing. Over the past few days, game makers working with Annapurna have scrambled to find new points of contact and figure out whether the company will continue to honor its agreements.
The spokesperson said all existing games and projects will remain under Annapurna.
New President Hector Sanchez told the developer the company would honor existing contracts and replace departing employees, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversations are private. Sanchez was a co-founder of Annapurna Interactive until he was recalled last month.
Annapurna’s video games division has a reputation for publishing critically acclaimed games made by small teams, and has won awards with titles such as Outer Wilds, Wanderlust and Cocoon. Last month, Annapurna announced a partnership with Finnish gaming company Remedy Entertainment to bring the critically acclaimed Control and Alan Wake film and TV series to the screen.
The Hollywood Reporter said earlier that top executives at Annapurna Interactive have resigned, but not the entire team has left.
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