The developer of Horizon Call of the Mountain, Firesprite Studios, has laid of the game’s director, Alex Barnes. It’s unclear how many other developers aside from him were impacted by Firesprite’s latest redundancies.
Barnes announced his departure on Twitter yesterday, saying that he had been let go from Firesprite after nearly seven years of working there. “The people at Firesprite and Guerrilla that pulled together to build Horizon Call of the Mountain were some of the most talented and dedicated developers I’ve had the pleasure to work with,” he explained. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to have been a Game Director with a team like this.”
Back in February, Sony laid off around 900 employees, and Firesprite’s next project, which was reportedly a Twisted Metal game, was apparently canceled. However, the Horizon online game is reportedly still in production.
There have also been reports of a toxic work culture brewing inside of Firesprite, as the studio experienced high-profile exits, and an alleged crunch on Horizon Call of the Mountain that led to low morale.
