Halfbrick makes its game designers redundant

Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick has made its two designers Layton Hawkes and Ryan Langley redundant.

According to Kotaku, the Australian studio no longer has any design staff on the team, and has no plans to take on any new employees in the profession.

Despite letting go of its designers, Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo said the developer remains a design focused company, and the move will instead “empower everyone in our teams to contribute to design rather than concentrate design control in the hands of a few”.

“Great ideas can come from anywhere and we want to create an environment that fosters this notion,” said Deo.

He added that Halfbrick would continue to develop mobile games that are “fun and innovative”, and suggested it would be announcing new games and partnerships in the near future.

The news comes after three former Halfbrick employees, Fruit Ninja creator Luke Muscat, Phil Larsen and Hugh Walters, left the company to form new studio Prettygreat earlier this year.