Control 2 not affected by mass layoffs of Annapurna Interactive

According to a report from Bloomberg, 25 employees of Annapurna Interactive resigned from the company in September following a disagreement with Megan Ellison, founder of Annapurna Pictures.

Annapurna Interactive is the video game publishing arm of Annapurna Pictures; former Annapurna Interactive president Nathan Gary is reportedly in talks with Ellison to become independent with the game publishing division. Gary and two other Annapurna Interactive co-leads left the company earlier in September, The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time. The other staffers followed suit later, according to the Bloomberg report.

“All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team have collectively resigned,” Gary and the former Annapurna Interactive employees told Bloomberg in a joint statement. “This was one of the most difficult decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.”

No details about the dispute have yet been released.

An Annapurna Interactive spokesperson told Bloomberg that the contracted games and projects will remain with Annapurna. Still, the news of the layoffs raised a lot of questions about the state of the publisher and its contracted developers: How can Annapurna Interactive support its newly released and upcoming games without staff? Onlookers also wondered: What about the recently announced partnership with Remedy Enteratainment? Remedy and Annapurna announced in late August that the companies would be Check 2 and developing TV and film adaptations for Remedy’s Alan Wake and Control series.

Remedy Communications Director Thomas Puha posted a message on X on Thursday to confirm that nothing is changing with Check 2 or its licensing rights. The Annapurna deal is tied to Annapurna Pictures, not Annapurna Interactive, he said. Check 2 is self-published by Remedy. “By supporting Remedy’s move into self-publishing, we are placing our trust in their vision,” said Annapurna Interactive co-founder and president of interactive and new media Hector Sanchez, who recently returned to the company after leaving Epic Games.

Annapurna Interactive is one of the most prestigious, if not the most prestigious, game publishers, known for releasing award-winning games such as What’s Left of Edith Finch, Gorogoa, Outer Wilds, Cocoon, And LostAs a publisher, you are usually responsible for financing, marketing and quality assurance.