If the Gamigo group has been relatively discrete in recent years, we remember that this specialist of the free-to-play MMO genre merged with Aeria Games in 2016 and this time, the German group makes a new acquisition: the American studio Trion Worlds, which first became known as a MMORPG developer (starting with Rift and Defiance), before focusing more on the exploitation of third-party MMOs – notably ArcheAge .
Gamigo buys Trion Worlds – and fires most of its employees
If the detail of the operation is not revealed at this stage (the duo has not yet published an official announcement, and the first echoes are those of the development teams of Trion Worlds), it is obviously the catalog of MMOs that interests Gamigo, and all titles should remain accessible.
This is clearly not the case with Trion Worlds staff, as many employees at the American studio report their immediate dismissal – adding that they will no longer have access to their professional e-mail by the end of the year. According to Gamasutra, at this stage, only about 25 Trion Worlds employees have received proposals for reclassification into the new Gamigo structure – out of the more than 200 that are part of Trion Studios.
Trion’s flagship community leader, Linda “Brasse” Carlson, is one of the unfortunate ones that will not find a place in Gamigo, but promises on the official Rift Forums she will answer any questions from the players and thank them for their presence. For his part, Scott Hartsman (previously CEO of Trion Worlds) appeals to studios in the online gaming industry to recruit the former employees of Trion Worlds. This is not the first time that Trion Worlds’ workforce has been hit by a wave of brutal layoffs, but it will be recognized that this is sudden and rather unexpected.