Annapurna Interactive – the indie publishing label known for titles such as What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, Stray, Cocoon, and many others – has lost its entire staff in a surprising turn of events. As reported by Bloomberg, the company’s staff had been in discussions with parent company Annapurna Pictures about the possibility of spinning off the former as its own, independent entity, but after company co-founder and owner Megan Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Annapurna Interactive president and co-founder Nathan Gary resigned.
Gary was joined in resigning by other Annapurna Interactives, with the rest of the company’s staff following shortly afterward. As per Bloomberg’s report, independent game development studios who had partnered with Annapurna Interactive for publishing deals of their titles have been “scrambling” to establish new points of contact within the company since then, and currently lack clarity whether their agreements with the company will be honoured.
A spokesperson of Annapurna has, however, said that the company will continue working on all the partnered titles and projects that it’s currently tied to.
The aforementioned Ellison, meanwhile, said in a statement, “Our top priority is continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition. We’re committed to not only our existing slate of games but also expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across film and TV, gaming, and theater.”
Hector Sanchez – another co-founder who recently returned to Annapurna Interactive and is now serving as the company’s new president – has told partner studios that the entirety of the publisher’s staff will be replaced, and that it will honour all existing deals and contracts.
Annapurna Interactive has multiple major upcoming titles that it is currently tied to, such as Silent Hill: Townfall, which is being developed by No Code. Recently, it was also announced that Annapurna would be co-financing the development of Remedy Entertainment’s Control 2, and that it would also work with the Finnish studio to expand the Control and Alan Wake properties into “film, TV, and beyond”.
