David Jaffe founding new company; Eat Sleep Play's focus to change.
February 7, 2012
On February 14th, Utah-based developer Eat Sleep Play's much-anticipated PlayStation 3 exclusive Twisted Metal will finally be released. Strange, then, that a report of the studio's downsizing and change in focus has hit the Internet before the game even comes out.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Eat Sleep Play's home paper, the Twisted Metal developer has laid off eight employees, or approximately 20% of its staff. Additionally, the company intends to move "from producing console titles to mobile games."
Vince Horiuchi, the writer of the piece, spoke to often-overshadowed studio co-founder Scott Campbell. Campbell reportedly told him that "[the iPhone and iPad] is in our pockets almost 24/7. It's kind of the size and types of games we're playing. You can certainly reach a lot more people. That's pretty exciting for us."
Stranger yet is the report of Jaffe's exit from the company. Campbell told the Tribune that Jaffe is following the same casual course. "He's excited to go into the casual space as well. He's got some projects that he's excited about. So we're kind of going down to separate paths," Campbell explained.
However, on David Jaffe's Twitter account, the God of War and Twisted Metal creator has brought some more clarity to the situation. "The rumors of me making casual games post [Twisted Metal] -- as many of you define them -- are highly exaggerated," reads one Tweet.
He goes on to explain that he has "zero plans to make games like Farmville and Angry Birds," but that he "will be opening a game studio" in San Diego, California, "because I really miss internal development." Jaffe's co-founded studio is in Salt Lake City, Utah, while he lives with his family in Southern California.
So what's next for Jaffe? His Tweets explain all. "I am with [Eat Sleep Play] and have not left and will not leave until we get [Twisted Metal] launched and stick around [to balance and bug fix and tune]," one Tweet explains. In another, he talks about his future. He apparently has ideas for both "huge next gen game[s]" and "cool stuff in the browser space."
We've reached out to Sony for further clarification as to what this means for Twisted Metal. While Sony doesn't own Eat Sleep Play, it does own the Twisted Metal brand. This also seems strangely familiar, considering an actual Sony first party studio, Big Big,recently shut down before its own game, Little Deviants on PlayStation Vita, ever launched.
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