End of Versus Evil, Publishee of Pillars of Eternity 2 and Broken Roads
Versus Evil, the publisher of Pillars of Eternity 2 and the upcoming Broken Roads, among others, has announced that it will be shut down. Behind the decision is most likely its owner, tinyBuild.
Versus Evil, the company, which published of such games as Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Yaga or Stray Souls, was closed after ten years of operation. All employees were fired.
- It is not known exactly what the reason for this decision was. Lane James, who served as head of the production department, stated only that it was not made by Versus Evil itself.
- It is worth noting that Versus Evil's owner is tinyBuild, so it is likely that this decision was made there. Some players wonder if this might have something to do with the recent financial problems of NetEase, a minority shareholder in tinyBuild, caused by changes in Chinese law, which are expected to curb spending by gamers.
- For now, it is unclear what will happen to upcoming titles that Versus Evil was supposed to be publishing, such as Almighty: Kill Your Gods, Monolith: Requiem of the Ancients or Broken Roads. The most natural move seems to be the takeover of these projects by tinyBuild.
The closure of Versus Evil is an even sadder move, as it was made right before Christmas., which is very unfair to the people employed there.
Unfortunately, these are not the only layoffs during this period. The day before yesterday saw the closure of First Contact Entertainment, known for such games as Firewall or Solaris Offworld Combat. The team specialized in VR games, and according to executives, the weakness of that market, especially in terms of the sales potential of big-budget games, made it impossible to continue operations.
In December, major layoffs were also carried out by the Embracer group (3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks were affected). In turn, Electronic Arts reduced the staff of Codemasters.
