Layoffs hit Big Huge Games

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 1, 2009 4:58 pm PT

THQ cuts staff at Rise of Nations publisher, still on the lookout for potential buyers.

Last month, THQ gave Rise of Nations developer Big Huge Games a heads-up. The publisher said it was looking to sell its wholly owned subsidiary and would close up shop entirely if a buyer could not be found in short order.

THQ confirmed that Big Huge Games is shrinking.

While the studio remains open and part of the THQ family, the publisher today confirmed that a number of Big Huge employees have been laid off. The layoffs were originally reported by trade site Develop. That account cited an anonymous source as saying that "a huge amount of layoffs" had taken place.

"We continue to pursue a sale of Big Huge Games," a THQ representative told GameSpot. "Yesterday, some of the staff were notified that they were not going to be part of the future direction of the studio. We are not providing exact headcounts at this time."

Big Huge Games was founded in 2000 by a quartet of PC strategy-game developers whose credits included Alpha Centauri, Civilization, Civilization II, and Gettysburg. The developer is best known for its work on Rise of Nations and the fantasy follow-up Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. More recently, the studio was responsible for the Xbox Live Arcade game Catan and has been developing an untitled role-playing game with Ken Rolston, lead designer on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. THQ acquired the company in January 2008.

43 Comments

  • geomyr

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 3:47 pm PT

    too bad for big huge games i love rise of the nations game i hope the company doesn't close.

  • largibbons

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 1:40 am PT

    Give them rise of nations 2. I'd buy it..

  • DEATH775

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 12:44 am PT

    hmm

  • tjdeep_2007

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 8:15 pm PT

    rise of nation was a masterpiece...i think EA should acquire BIG HUGE GAMES...

  • kytomasi

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 11:37 am PT

    i loved Rise of nations. RoN:Rise of Legends was worst then the 1st tho.

  • bduddy_

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 10:40 am PT

    It's telling that they're still "Rise of Nations developer" even though they've made more games. The reason, of course, is that none of the other games have been any good.

  • XxFulgrimxX

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 10:19 am PT

    Arg I hate this economy....

  • Vance_009

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 9:24 am PT

    I loved Big Huge games, well at less THQ did not layoff Relic.

  • Rontor

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 9:06 am PT

    Epic Phail.

  • Ghost_702

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 8:46 am PT

    Gaming studios are closing down all the time. It's doesn't come as a surprise when most of them make sub-par games. I haven't played any of the games developed by Big Huge so I don't know if this is the case here though.

  • DPhunkT

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 7:15 am PT

    Man... I really enjoyed Rise of Nations.

    Kinda strange since the gaming sector is still holding strong.

  • kingcrowner

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 7:07 am PT

    i could imagine this happening

    "hey guess what? you're fired."
    "hahaha! good one boss. april fools!"
    "no seriously. get out."

  • Drower

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 7:06 am PT

    nappan, I would guess hour, minute, second and fraction of second. No idea what he means with it though.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 6:48 am PT

    @insanitycheck3: Um, after the date, what are those numbers' significance?

  • insanitycheck3

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 6:35 am PT

    It is really a good news-2009-04-02 06.35.29.748000

  • Koi-Neon-X

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 6:20 am PT

    A loss for the video game industry pure and simple. As I've said before when this was announced: you'll get rid of this great developer but, you'll keep the arms that churn out crap based on movies and tv shows? something wrong with this picture.

  • xbox4life76

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 6:17 am PT

    It was a while since we had heard about layoffs and I was quite happy but i guess it's still an issue and though i don't think the recession will be fixed any time soon, i'm just hoping that we can get some progress towards fixing it.

  • mylsd

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 6:14 am PT

    awww man, Catan is a game I still play daily

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 6:11 am PT

    *#*@#*@#!!!!!! Come on not BHG!! Can't the Madden team get laid off (yes, I know, not relevant)?! It's just like Dick Cheney being alive and George Carlin, John Belushi, etc... being dead. No justice at all.

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