Toki Tori studio cuts development staff

Toki Tori developer Two Tribes had reduced its staff down to the studio’s original founders, officially shutting down the 13 year old studio and letting go of eight staff members in the process.

The Netherlands-based developer explained in a blog post that a fresh start was necessary, as the old Two Tribes studio was consistently hampered by its history as a work-for-hire group.

"[It] turns out we aren’t as good at selling games as we thought,” the develoer wrote. Looking at our busy release schedule you probably wouldn’t have guessed, but in the last two months of 2013 our office has been largely empty.”

There was no programming, no designing, no fun to be had, just co-founders Martijn [Reuvers] and Collin [van Ginkel] taking care of the business end of things. In this case the ‘business end’ can be taken quite literally. The old Two Tribes, founded in 2001, doesn’t exist anymore and we had to send everyone home.”

The sad news actually doesn’t spell the total demise for the developer. Two Tribes publishing, the studio’s parent company, remains operational. Further, Reuvers and van Ginkel have created a new daughter company that will develop future titles for the publishing arm.

Two Tribes past releases – including Toki Tori, Toki Tori 2, Rush, and Edge – remain available to purchase through their respective channels.