Avalanche: Kaos deserved better, and we’ll help

THQ’s explanation for closing down its US outfit Kaos has been described as “troubling” by the boss of Avalanche’s New York studio.

David Grijns, the managing director of Avalanche Studios NYC, told Develop he had expected Kaos’s closure for a number of months.

“Most of their staff has already approached us,” he said.

THQ earlier this week confirmed it was closing down Kaos, the developer of Homefront, as part of its wider plan to redirect investment into Canada.

It is thought that more than 100 workers will be affected by the closure.

Staff at the studio had feared closure as far back as January, an insider told Develop at the time.

THQ has in recent months been hiring for its new Montreal studio, and had controversially poached Ubisoft man Patrice Desilets as part of that process.

“It is always troubling to us when a publisher shuts down a studio with the only explanation being ‘a strategic realignment of resources’,” Grijns said.

“We think Kaos and New York City as a whole deserved better than this.”

Grijns is in the process of building up a new team at Avalanche’s New York office, and told Develop that former Kaos staff will end up at the studio.

“We will certainly be interviewing many of them for our open positions and doing what we can to help,” he said.

“We have big plans for our New York studio and for our next project and we will have more news to share in the coming months.”

Avalanche’s New York studio is the company’s third. The Just Cause developer is headquarted in Stockholm, Sweden, and also has an online-focused studio in the country.