Mobile developer, Backflip Studios closes for business

According to former employees of the studio, Backflip Studios has suffered mass layoffs this week in preparation for a full shut down.

The Colorado-based firm is best known for physics-based games like Paper Toss and Ragdoll Blaster, as well as mobile games including DragonVale and Transformers: Earth War, and has been in the business for a decade.

In 2013, Hasbro bought a majority stake in the developer for $112 million with the studio seeing annual revenues of nearly $100 million at the time.

The news of the layoffs broke via a post on LinkedIn from Branden Conley, former senior engineer at the studio, who announced “Backflip Studios shut their doors today. They were a great studio. Everyone I worked with was awesome, I think the products that were in development had a lot of potential, but Hasbro couldn’t make the financials work, I guess.”

He also mentioned that the severance package was “really good”. GamesIndustry.biz got in touch with an anonymous former employee who estimated that around 70 people have been laid off, with the DragonVale team currently staying on while a decision is made regarding the game’s future.

In recent times, results for the studio have been disappointing with Hasbro reporting it missed its quarterly earnings expectations, as well as seeing its stock price drop 16% overnight this week. However, the news is still a surprise given Backflip Studios was close to soft-launching a new project.

Story by Jennifer Allen