Following the executives’ departure, the entire Annapurna Interactive team left the company, according to Bloomberg. Apparently, the video game publisher’s president, Nathan Gailey, had been in talks with Annapurna Pictures founder Megan Ellison to spin off Annapurna Interactive as a separate entity. A company spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that the two sides had explored the possibility of a spinoff, but the talks fell apart. Gailey and other executives at the publisher resigned and left the company as a result, followed by the rest of the team.
“All 25 Annapurna Interactive team members have resigned,” the team said in a joint statement. “This is one of the most difficult decisions we have ever made, and we do not take this decision lightly.”
Annapurna Interactive, like any publisher, teams with developers, funds their games, handles the quality assurance process, and markets and distributes the titles once they’re ready for public release. Partner developers have reportedly been frantically trying to work out what the team’s departure means for them in recent days. According to Bloomberg, Annapurna Interactive co-founder Hector Sanchez assured developers that the company will honor its agreements. Sanchez was with Epic Games for the past five years, but recently returned to the publisher as president of Interactive + New Media. Annapurna will reportedly hire new staff to replace those who have left, essentially building an entirely new team.
“Our top priority is continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition,” Ellison told Bloomberg News. “We’re also focused on expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to explore opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across our existing game lineup, as well as through film, TV, games and theater.”
Since its 2017 debut with What Remains of Edith Finch, the publisher has released a number of critically acclaimed and wildly popular games, including the cat simulator Stray, a puzzle-adventure game featuring globe-trotting beetle Cocoon, pop-album rhythm-action game Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Outer Wilds, an action-adventure game set in a solar system trapped in a time loop.
