The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the publisher of multiple celebrated titles, including the well-known cat game Stray, reportedly resigned this month after a dispute with its owner.
According to a new Bloomberg report, the publisher’s president, Nathan Gary, and his team had been negotiating with Annapurna’s owner, Megan Ellison, to spin off the video game division as an independent entity. The negotiations ended when Ellison pulled out, prompting Gary and the other executive to resign. The rest of the staff followed shortly after.
In a statement provided to Bloomberg, Ellison confirmed that Annapurna’s priority is to continue supporting its developer and publishing partners during this transition. The company is also committed to expanding its presence in the interactive space by continuing to look for new opportunities.
Development teams partnered with Annapurna Interactive are obviously scrambling to understand what this all means for future projects. New president Hector Sanchez, one of the publisher’s co-founders who was brought back last month, reportedly told developers that all contracts will be honored and staff will be replaced.
Annapurna Interactive provides various services to partners, including funding, quality assurance, localization, and marketing, so it’s understandable the confusion among developers whose projects may never see the light of day if the publisher folds. Among the successful games published by the company are the aforementioned Stray, Cocoon, Outer Wilds, What Remains of Edith Finch, and many others.
