Melbourne-based studio Torus Games is reportedly ceasing all production, with eight employees set to be laid off, and no projects moving forward. The report comes from award-winning journalist Jack Ryan, who shared details on Twitter / X.
“Melbourne’s Torus Games has effectively shuttered after nearly 30 years. Eight employees have been laid off,” Ryan said. “Bill McIntosh, founder/owner, said that Torus had a number of projects in discussion over the past year – but no one keen to move forward in development.”
McIntosh reportedly told Ryan the studio will “continue as a business for the time being” but he will be the sole employee, and will “take care of things” moving forward.
As the Torus Games website details, the studio has an impressive tenure – one which includes 146 video game releases across 40 platforms. It’s been active for 28 years, and reportedly served as a “proving grounds” for many up and coming Australian developers.
Read: What video game funding really means for local Australian developers
Recently, the studio aided development on Lego 2K Drive, World War Z, and a number of other titles, but it’s perhaps most known for producing and co-developing high quality media tie-ins across the 2000s and 2010s. That includes games for the Barbie, Scooby-Doo, Monster High, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Duke Nukem franchises.
It also worked extensively with Warner Bros., THQ, Ubisoft, Take-Two, The Pokemon Company International, Saber Interactive, Sony Pictures, Nokia, Mattel, Marvel, DreamWorks, Disney, Cartoon Network, Atari, Bandai Namco, and Activision since it was established in 1994.
As McIntosh reportedly told Jack Ryan, opportunities for the studio have become rarer in recent times, with a seeming reluctance for new projects to move forward. It’s a difficult time for the games industry overall, with many large and small companies making significant cuts to account for fewer funding opportunities, and a lack of investment.
Already, global companies including Sony, Microsoft, Epic Games, EA and more have cut staff in sweeping layoffs designed to reduce the impact of economic instability. Unfortunately, we expect more layoffs are yet to come.
Our thoughts are with those impacted by the reported layoffs at Torus Games.
