Following on from the news that Midway were to release almost 100 people from their offices in Austin, comes similar news from both NCSoft and High Moon Studios.

NCSoft, most known for their Guild Wars series of massively multiplayer online games and, more recently, the Richard Garriott helmed effort, Tabula Rasa, has confirmed that they will be letting 21 employees go from their Austin offices, despite the denial of similar rumours.

An NCSoft spokesperson said of the lay-offs: “Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time.”

High Moon Studios on the other hand, known for Darkwatch as well as the recent Bourne game, is to release around 60 employees as a result of the Activision-Vivendi merger. Acquired by Vivendi Games in 2005, High Moon Studios is yet another casualty of the holy/unholy union, while other, now Activision-Blizzard owned studios, such as Radical Entertainment, Swordfish and Massive Entertainment, await their fate, after Activision’s statement:

“…the company intends to adapt the Vivendi Games’ studio operations to better align the studio structure against the new product slate. The company will realign staffing at Radical Entertainment and High Moon Studios.”

It’s a tough time in the industry.