Amplitude developer Harmonix lays off 37 staff

Harmonix has laid of 37 staff and reshuffled its leadership.

The developer claimed the redundancies were due to restructuring efforts to “bring the studio into alignment with our current and future product development plans”.

Studio co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos has also stepped down from his role and taken up the position of chief creative officer. The company’s VP of operations and publishing Steve Janiak will replace him as CEO.

"Harmonix is in the process of restructuring our organisation to bring it into alignment with our current and future product development plans," read a statement.

"Unfortunately, this means making the difficult decision to reduce the number of full-time staff. We sincerely appreciate the work of each and every one of these employees. Harmonix is working to ensure that those affected are well taken care of as we make this change."

The layoffs come after Harmonix successfully raised $844,127 on crowdfunding website Kickstarter to remake 2003 rhythm-action game Amplitude for PS3 and PS4.

Harmonix has also announced it will be taking music-based shooter Chroma back to the drawing bad after poor early feedback from players, and stated the game would now need “substantial retooling to be the game we want it to be”.

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