Magic: Legends' Shutdown Puts Over 40 Out Of Work
Yesterday's surprising news that Magic: Legends would be shutting down in just a few months means that Cryptic Studios will soon have a lot of positions that are no longer necessary. And this is one unfortunate case where "soon" for a gaming company means "right now."
As MassivelyOP noticed, Senior Sound Designer Aaron Walz Tweeted out that "They laid off 44 employees this morning," while saying that "The rest of the audio dept is safe because they don’t work on Magic. I was in charge of Magic and on that team, so sadly, my position was eliminated."
He also noted that Cryptic handled the matter "very professionally and caringly" and that "Our CEO was extremely emotional and choked up."
It's that last part that raises an eyebrow for me. For Walz's part, I thought the sound of the game was fine. I'd imagine that most of the other people who were laid off worked in similar roles, whether it be on the graphics for the game, the engine, community management, or so on. They did their jobs to the best of their ability, working as they were directed by their superiors.
Those higher-ups, though? The ones who made the decisions about the direction of the game that their employees carried out and that proved unpopular enough with fans for it to be shut down just a few months into beta? They usually survive this kind of bloodletting. If the "emotional and choked up" CEO doesn't want to be in that situation again, those are the people who need to be replaced.
Related Articles
About the Author

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
Read Next
PSO2: NGS Headline Stream Teases Upcoming Anniversary Event...Including A Peek At The Braver Class
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis has been out for three weeks now, so apparently the dev team thought it was time for a brief stream to let the players know what's going on.
By QuintLyn Bowers - 2 years agoYou May Enjoy
Here's What You Need To Know About The Deceive Inc. Private Lobby Beta Update
Besides lobbies that support up to 12 players, the patch fixes various issues too.
By Matthew D'Onofrio - 1 week agoMists Of Pandaria Composer Russell Brower To Score Tarisland Soundtrack
The award-winning composer will be “featured prominently”.
By QuintLyn Bowers - 1 day agoWayfinder’s Next Update Includes Its First Ever Live Event And A Fight With The Highlands Fire Lord
Call of the Void arrives in October.
By QuintLyn Bowers - 22 hours agoGet Your Magic: The Gathering Arena 5th Anniversary Celebration Rewards Now
There's also events coming up.
By Matthew D'Onofrio - 1 week agoNightingale Developer Update Explains Early Access Delay, Because Even In Early Access You Only Get One Chance To Impress
They’re taking the fact that a launch is a launch seriously.
By QuintLyn Bowers - 2 days agoXDefiant Announces Public Test Session Of "Preseason" Content On PC
That’s their version of a Public Test Server.
By QuintLyn Bowers - 1 day ago
really? surprising??????????????????
It was obvious to be trash when they first teased the game..then launch proved it even more...and it was matter of weeks to me before they cancel it...yare yare
This clown concept lately of anyone who makes more money than you is a bad person needs to go. You sound jealous and uneducated.
Add generic story with "go there 50000km and now go back and go 40000km again and go back..." being all the quests there are just did not help.
But this was not like "worst game ever" bad, it was just "5/10 bad"
While phantasy star online new genesis is more of 2/10 bad
So if i was in prison camp where the punishment is to play meh game, i'd pick this over many other games. Ofcourse people that got fired had nothing to do with the failure of this.
Check Veloren guys= mmorpg, open source, free, daily updates the most fun mmorpg i've played in last year or two and it is still pre-alpha.
Ebin.