Freestyle Games confirms new project, 35 jobs affected

Freestyle Games has just announced its started work on a new project, but confirmed that 35 jobs have been cut from the DJ Hero developer.

In a statement sent to VG247 today, studio director Jamie Jackson said the new title - details of which were not confirmed - was "innovative."

"Over the past three months we have examined a number of options for our studio's future with Activision," he said.

"Today we are excited to share with our fans and community the news that we will continue our strong partnership with Activision, with work starting on a new, innovative project.

"While we are still in a consultation process with the studio, we cannot release details about the project we will be working
on but we look forward to sharing more information in the coming months. We'd like to thank the team, our fans, the media and the video game industry at large for their support during this period."

But despite the good news, design director David Osbourn confirmed that 35 jobs were let go from the developer.

"We envisage that approximately 35 roles will be impacted and are consulting with the studio to offer tools and resources, including outplacement counseling services and career fairs etc to those employees affected," said Osbourn.

"Although we will be really sorry to lose members of the Freestyle Games family we have no doubt that their talents will be in high demand throughout the industry."

Following the launch of DJ Hero in 2009 and its sequel last year, Freestyle's future was in serious doubt back in February when Activision announced it was shutting down its music business units, with work on the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero series' for this year and beyond put on hold.

Despite that, the developer said it was "actively working" with its parent company over the future at the time.