Harmonix has joined the long line of software development companies that has been forced to lay off staff this year.
Last month EA Games announced that it had been forced to lay off one and a half thousand staff members, and now Harmonix has revealed that they have been forced to make a similar decision. “We can confirm that 39 positions were eliminated today at Harmonix as part of restructuring to better align our staffing to best suit our product development plans and schedules moving forward,” a spokesman for MTV Games announced yesterday. “Those affected were primarily in QA. The others affected ranged from administrative to other various roles within the company.” The spokesman went on to say that the restructuring was being used as an opportunity to bring the studio’s development model “in line with how other game developers manage their QA departments.”
The company will now apparently use a mixture of part time and temporary employees, as well as assistance from outside partners and an outsourced QA department. The spokesman said that the job losses represent a cut of thirteen percent in Harmonix’s work force, but noted that the layoffs would not affect game development or release schedules, and were not made in response to poor sales. “MTV Games and Harmonix are very pleased with the sales of our “Rock Band” titles and we expect to continue to see strong sales throughout the holidays across all of our titles,” the spokesman insisted, adding that “The Beatles: Rock Band” had sold over a million copies worldwide.
Original Author: Brian