Indie game fans have been taken aback by events at Annapurna Interactive, as the entire game division's staff resigned en masse after failing to agree to terms with owner Megan Ellison. It marks a turning point for the innovative game publisher see as a bastion of 'arthouse' design in the games industry, and it has rocked many fans.
Megan Ellison, founder of Annapurna Pictures, created the game division with the aim of crafting contemporary, thoughtful and inventive video games. The aim was to put artists first and develop the aesthetic and language of video games in new, interesting ways. In recent years Annapurna Interactive has published some of the best indie gaming, challenging titles, such as Kentucky Route Zero, What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds and cat-adventure Stray.
Set against the backdrop of an industry in crisis, where every week more redundancies are announced, and around 2,000 jobs at Microsoft's game division alone have been lost this year, it's a very Annapurna thing for its staff to walk out rather than wait to be downsized.
The cause for the exodus came after plans by Megan Ellison to splinter the gaming division into an independent entity were opposed, and negotiations led by president Nathan Gary fell apart, and all 25 members of Annapurna Interactive collectively resigned.
"This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly," said Gary in a statement to Bloomberg. While it looks like plans to spin the gaming division off are happening, for now a former executive at Epic Games, Hector Sanchez, has been hired to maintain order and keep partner studios on track.
None of this has gone down well with fans of Annapurna and its games. There remains a degree of chaos around the situation, especially for a publisher built on trust and putting needs of artists first. While the arrival of Hector Sanchez has eased partner studios concerns, many fans are left questioning if what remains of Annapurna Interactive is really the same as before. Read the fan-Tweets below:
holy shit, this seems like a big deal. and if annapurna falls apart, what a shame, they published some really incredible game, including my favorite game of all time (outer wilds) https://t.co/QVj6PTQ5cRSeptember 12, 2024
Ugh. I hope there's a phoenix to rise from these ashes. Annapurna Interactive was the publisher above all others to whose games published I could point and say, "these are the kind of games I want to play." https://t.co/aciwVtODSkSeptember 12, 2024
This REALLY sucks. Annapurna was publishing some of the most inventive stuff out there, with plenty more coming over the next year or two... including that Silent Hill Townfall game! https://t.co/ab1lypLWKISeptember 12, 2024
Oh cool! Gamings closest thing to what people would consider Arthouse cinema just quietly imploded, some of the most genuinely SOULFUL things the industry has seen in its entire existence came out of Annapurna in just the last few years alone, & it’s just dead now.SICK. https://t.co/4SnpuMszVuSeptember 12, 2024
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Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.
