After unsubstantiated rumours of redundancies at Rockstar’s San Diego offices (responsible for this year’s Red Dead Redemption), Rockstar itself has confirmed that a “typical” round of layoffs has taken place at the studio “in order to continue to develop games as effectively as possible”

Studio Manager at Rockstar San Diego, Steve Martin, wrote in a statement:

“As is typical with game development, our team sizes have always fluctuated over the course of the development cycle. As Rockstar San Diego transitions from the launch of Red Dead Redemption onto future projects, we are realigning our resources in order to continue to develop games as effectively as possible.

“We are ensuring that all employees who are affected by these changes are being treated with care. While we have no announcements to make regarding a sequel to Red Dead Redemption, the team here are hard at work on the development of downloadable content for the game.”

Before the official announcement, Kotaku was reporting that, according to sources, as many as 40 Rockstar employees had been dismissed from the San Diego studio.

This news comes just two months after the release of Red Dead Redemption – a game which by all accounts was a critical and commercial smash hit, but went through a significantly strained development period and suffered multiple release delays.

Source: Kotaku