Harmonix issues "small number" of lay-offs

Rock Band, Dance Central and Fantasia: Music Evolved developer Harmonix has issues an unannounced but small number of lay-offs.

The news was first broken by former employees like Dan Crislip on Twitter, who confirmed he was one of a number of staff let go. A Harmonix spokesperson then confirmed the news with Joystiq.

"We can confirm that a small number of Harmonix employees were let go today. This decision was made due to shifting staffing priorities for Harmonix's multiple future projects," the representative said.

Fantasia: Music Evolved is the only announced Harmonix project at present, although it's not clear if the Kinect title is the same as a mysterious new kind of game outed by recruiting.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harmonix is an independent developer best known for the Rock Band franchise. It was the original developer of Guitar Hero, and purchased itself from Viacom when the publisher chose to step away from the games industry. The split was not without rancour, with Viacom ordered to pay out disputed bonuses.