Hasbro's layoffs Spawn Vicious Cycle

A huge string of layoffs this past December, which effectively downsized much of Hasbro Interactive's creative talent, has lead to the creation of a new gaming development studio. The new company, Vicious Cycle, is composed of artists, programmers, and game designers with several substantial hits already under their belt, including the popular X-COM series for the Sega Genesis and the classic game Combat for the Atari 2600.

Eric Peterson, the company's new president, says the collection of talent at Hasbro "...was too good to let slip away. We had just gone through a long process of assembling some of the most talented people in the industry, and we felt that we had to at least make an attempt to keep them together."

"With the new consoles that are hitting the market in the next couple of years, there's never been a better time to be a game developer," commented Wayne Harvey, Vicious Cycle's director of engineering.

GameSpot will keep you posted on any future endeavors undertaken by Vicious Cycle, as the company takes on the gaming industry from a fresh perspective.