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Earlier this month, Annapurna Interactive lost the entirety of its staff after all 25 members collectively resigned and walked out. The news came as a shock to some, as Annapurna has published a number of highly praised games (including Stray, Outer Wilds and The Artful Escape) and is currently in the process of developing a Blade Runner game. So what happened?
A recent report from IGN sheds some light on the issue. According to the report, changes in leadership played a major role, but the tale leading up to the mass walkout is a complicated one that requires a quick history lesson on the company’s past to truly understand.
Annapurna Interactive was founded by Annapurna Pictures owner (and daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison) Megan Ellison in 2016. At the time, Annapurna Pictures was struggling financially, and Ellison handpicked Nathan Gary, Deborah Mars, and Hector Sanchez–who had all previously worked for Sony–to help guide the new gaming studio’s path forward. Sanchez left the team in 2019, and Capybara Games co-founder Nathan Vella joined the team shortly thereafter. 2019 also saw Ellison effectively disappear, effectively leaving Annapurna Interactive to its own devices, but the billionare movie mogul returned to a more hands-on role in 2021.
The same year, Nathan Gary was given the title of president of Annapurna Pictures, though the anonymous sources in IGN’s report claim Gary’s attention remained, for the most part, focused on Annapurna Interactive. In early 2024, Gary was either fired (according to IGN’s anonymous sources) or resigned due to issues he had with other changes to Annapurna’s staff and a recent demotion (according to an Annapurna spokesperson). Other staff members quit in protest, but Ellison later held a video call in which she allegedly expressed a desire to keep the whole team together, including those who had resigned–and apparently, it worked. Gary and other who had left returned.
Gary and Ellison later began discussing ideas regarding creating a spin-off studio that would still be connected to Annapurna Pictures. This studio was to be called Verset, and would effectively consist of Gary and the Annapurna Interactive staff members. Verset would be responsible for all currently in-progress Annapurna Interactive projects, and ownership of Verset would be split between leaders of both Verset and Annapurna Interactive.
According to IGN, some Annapurna Interactive employees were concerned by both the idea of Verset (which would effectively create a competitor for Annapurna Interactive) and some of Ellison’s other moves, like the decision to rehire Hector Sanchez as Annapurna Pictures’ “president of interactive and new media,” fearing it could create even more competition within the Annapurna Interactive team.
Other concerns cited by IGN’s sources include a deal Annapurna Pictures struck with Remedy for publishing rights on Control 2. Sanchez negotiated the deal himself, and Annapurna Interactive employees reportedly only heard about the Remedy deal the day it was announced to the public.
Fed up with the lack of transparency and Ellison’s overall decision-making, Annapurna Interactive employees told IGN they gave Ellison two weeks of notice prior to the mass-walkout on September 6. Ellison reportedly showed no interest in negotiating with the Interactive team, and she evidently failed to warn Annapurna’s other development partners of the impending walkout and the effect it could have on production.
Currently, Annapurna Pictures staff are reportedly filling in the gaps at Interactive to ensure the publisher’s outstanding commitments are fulfilled and deadlines are met, but one game is still hanging precariously in the balance–Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, which is being developed internally as opposed to via a partnered studio.
As for Annapurna Interactive’s take on the events, a spokesperson for the company called the situation “a baffler” and said that the company is now “focused on moving forward.”
“We’ve had really great conversations with an overwhelming majority of our existing development teams and are grateful for their partnership,” the spokesperson told IGN. “If our inbox is any indication, a ton of developers continue to want to be a part of what we’re building, and we look forward to seeing their pitches. We’ve also had an influx of quality job applicants and are excited to build a team passionate about our mission to tell original stories that aren’t being told elsewhere. P.S. We’re hiring.”
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