There’s a saying here in the UK: it never rains, but it pours. In other words, bad news is never alone. Case in point, IO Interactive has announced the closure of one of its studios following the loss of funding for Project Fantasy.
That “external partner” is apparently Xbox, according to Jason Schreier. A Microsoft spokesperson even gave Schreier a canned response regarding the news, stating that they are “taking a fresh look at where we invest so we’re focusing on our highest priorities.”
Neither Xbox nor IO Interactive have actually outright confirmed the partnership, but the spokesperson’s comments make it a pretty safe bet. Xbox has since begun a massive culling of staff, and are getting rid of at least four studios.
At the time the news was revealed, IO Interactive also said, “we have to adapt to this new reality and its short-term consequences, including staffing decisions”, which sounded rather ominous.
Today, IO has confirmed what we all feared at the time: it’s shutting down its Istanbul studio.
“Following the end of our external finance partnership on Project Fantasy, IOI has regained full ownership of the project and our IP. We will continue to develop and fund it independently amongst our other projects,” wrote IO Interactive. “With this context, we had to find a new balance for the long-term future of the studio, focused on the success of our main internal core titles instead of external projects and potential mobile game derivatives. This has meant making changes as well as proposed changes across our studios: the closure of our Istanbul studio and starting a process to part ways with colleagues who have been a meaningful part of what makes IOI what it is.”
The company reiterates that Project Fantasy remains in active development and that they retain the full rights to the IP.
“These are hard, but necessary decisions, in order to retain the long-term future of IO Interactive as one of the very few fully independent AAA developers and publishers, as well as to give Project Fantasy the best possible foundation to succeed under our own passion and direction. Project Fantasy is a game, a world, and an IP that we are wholly committed to, and we cannot wait to share the love with you.”
The Istanbul studio was founded in 2023 with the goal of being a hub for triple-A developers in Turkey, and was intended to play a big role in both the development of 007 First Light and the upcoming Project Fantasy. IO Interactive has not confirmed the number of job losses expected, and I have not been able to find any reliable information about how many people work there. The only source I could find is Revelio, which claims there are 42 IO Interactive employees in Turkey.
WGB 