Gigantic developer Motiga has shut down (Updated)

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Publisher Perfect World could close more studios, warns Motiga boss.

Update: Publisher Perfect World addressed Motiga's closure in a statement to Kotaku:

"Following the news that Motiga has reduced the staff of its studio, Perfect World Entertainment can confirm that as the publisher of Gigantic, the game will continue to be available on our platforms. A core team of developers remains at Motiga, who will work with us to support the game and its players, including moving full steam ahead with the upcoming November update and future content. We cannot thank everyone enough for their contributions in making Gigantic the outstanding experience it is today."

The publisher also confirmed the closure of Torchlight and Hob developer Runic Games, which you can learn more about here. Perfect World says "The staff reduction at Motiga and the closure of Runic Games Seattle were unrelated."

Original story:

Motiga, developer of free-to-play hero shooter Gigantic, nearly shut down last year when boss Chris Chung gathered all 75 employees and told them that the studio had run out of money. But the team showed up to work regardless, and soldiered on until publisher Perfect Games swooped in to acquire the company. Unfortunately, Perfect Games has now decided that the developer isn't profitable enough, and has closed Motiga's doors once and for all.

That's according to Motiga chief executive Chris Chung, who told Destructoid: "It was a budgetary decision at the highest level. Perfect World as a public company has a profitability goal and they decided to cut parts of the company that were not profitable. In short, Gigantic was not making enough revenue."

It's not clear exactly how many staff are affected—the image at the top of this article, tweeted by a former employee, shows nearly 100 people. A handful will remain to maintain Gigantic "until some time in the future when it doesn't make sense anymore", Chung said.

He added: "Today was a tough day for all of us who have been part of this extraordinary journey. We wish the best for everyone that were impacted and we will do everything we can to help them find a new home." 

It might not be the last we hear of it, either. Chung said that "Motiga is not the only Perfect World studio being impacted by the decision". Perfect World has a number of subsidiary developers: in 2010 it acquired a majority stake in Torchlight and Hob developer Runic Games, and it also owns Cryptic Studios, developer of City of Heroes and Star Trek Online. 

Perfect World has not yet broken its silence on the matter.

Samuel Horti
Samuel Horti

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.