Nexon Shuts Down Their Irvine Studio
Nexon has shut down their main western headquarters in Orange County, California this week and have canceled all of the studio's in-development titles. According to GamesIndustry.biz, around 60 employees have been affected by the closure of the Irvine office including former Blizzard Entertainment and Carbine developer Stephan Frost who confirmed the unfortunate news on Twitter.
Welp, 2020 continues to be the worst year ever, as I got word our studio will be shutting down. Onto the next adventure.
— Frost (@StephanFrost) July 16, 2020
In a statement to VentureBeat, the Tokyo-based company said that the closure was not because of business concerns but was due to a shift in the company’s core focus and creative direction. “We deeply appreciate the commitment and output of the OC team, however projects in development there no longer fit with our focus on core creative competencies,” said Nexon. “All permanent employees impacted by this decision will receive severance and outplacement assistance.”
Other studios in the area, such as InXile Entertainment, have already offered to hire developers affected by the closure.
We were sorry to hear about Nexon OC's closure today. For those of you affected, we're hiring, and even if you don't see something posted we want to hear from you: https://t.co/ovFm9hVXtZ #gamedevjobs #Nexon pic.twitter.com/IXwWRANoqW
— inXile entertainment (@inXile_ent) July 16, 2020
