The entire Annapurna Interactive team left the company after their executives left Bloomberg. Apparently, the video game publisher’s president, Nathan Gary, was in talks with Annapurna Pictures founder Megan Ellison to spin off Annapurna Interactive. The spokesperson of the company confirmed this Bloomberg that the parties were exploring the possibility of a split, but their discussions broke down. Gary and other publishing executives resigned and eventually left the team, and other members of the team followed suit.
“All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team have resigned collectively,” the team said in a joint statement. “This was one of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make, and we didn’t take this step lightly.”
Annapurna Interactive, like other publishers, teams up with developers, funds their games, takes care of the QA process, and then markets and distributes the titles when they’re ready for the public. His partner developers have reportedly been struggling to figure out what the exit from the team means for them over the past few days. Bloomberg Annapurna Interactive co-founder Hector Sanchez says he has assured developers that the company will honor its contracts. Sanchez has been with Epic Games for the past five years, but he recently rejoined the publisher as president of Interactive + New Media. Annapurna is also said to be building an entirely new team and hiring new staff to replace those who have left.
“Our top priority is to continue to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition,” Ellison said Bloomberg news. “We are committed to expanding our presence in the interactive space, not only our existing slate of games, but also as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling in film and television, gaming and theater. “
The publisher made a splash when it debuted What remains of Edith Finch 2017 and now has a number of critically acclaimed and popular games under its belt. Its games include a cat simulator deviantis a puzzle-adventure game featuring a globe-trotting bug the cocoonpop album rhythm action game Sayonara Wild Heartsand action adventure game Foreign savagesset in a solar system trapped in a time loop.
