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NCsoft Austin makes minor cuts

After cataclysmic online reports, Korea-based MMOG publisher confirms 21 positions have been eliminated at its Texas studio.

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Yesterday, a spate of rumors slashed across the Internet claiming that ill tidings were brewing at NCsoft's Austin, Texas, office, which houses such games as Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa and the membership-optional, ad-supported Dungeon Runners. According to various online reports, the Korea-based publisher was preparing to shutter its Austin operation, and in the process shutting down Dungeon Runners, which launched for the PC in July, and outsourcing Tabula Rasa development to Guild Wars makers ArenaNet.

It now appears that though NCsoft will be making some cuts to its Austin studio, those initial rumblings were blown widely out of proportion.

"We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development," an NCsoft representative told GameSpot. "Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time."

Playing down the impact that this will have on NCsoft Austin, the representative noted that the staff reductions represent only about 6 percent of the studio's total workforce, which stands at around 300. The rep also flatly denied allegations that the Tabula Rasa team will be impacted by the layoffs. As part of NCsoft's Q2 earnings report earlier today, the publisher revealed that during the three-month period ended June 30, the Richard Garriott-led sci-fi MMOG had generated just $1.9 million of the publisher's $78 million total haul.

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