Struggling game publisher THQ announced today that it would be laying off 118 employees from its Vigil Games and Relic Entertainment studios. The announcement came alongside word that Vigil's massively multiplayer game, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online, is being restructured into a single-player experience with multiplayer elements.
A press release issued by THQ said that Dark Millennium would be refocused into "an immersive single player and online multiplayer experience," though the statement gave no details on what that might mean for the game, and THQ declined to offer additional insight when reached for comment.
"As previously announced, we have been actively looking for a business partner for the game as an MMO," said Brian Farrell, CEO of THQ in the press release. "However, based on changing market dynamics and the additional investment required to complete the game as an MMO, we believe the right direction for us is to shift the title from an MMO to a premium experience with single and multiplayer gameplay, robust digital content and community features."
Vigil is also currently working on the console title Darksiders 2, though THQ made no mention of how the 79-person cut to its 180-person team would affect development of that title. With the game currently slated for a June 2012 release, this is the time a studio would normally be staffing up for crunch mode, not shedding employees.
The other 39 staff cuts will come from Relic Entertainment, which was rumored to be working on Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III. Most recently, Relic released the moderately successful shooter, Space Marine, based on the Warhammer 40K license. The studio is most famous for its work on strategy titles like Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, and Homeworld.
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