To all the fans of Scribblenauts out there, sad news today! The studio behind the popular franchise, 5th Cell, is getting a massive downgrade.
The studio, which was originally founded as 5th Cell Media, LLC, gained prominence for its game Drawn to Life, which saw considerable success on the Nintendo DS, but it was easily most popular for the Scribblenauts series.
With four Scribblenauts games under its belt, the studio had plans for a fifth game called Scribblenauts: Fighting Words. Unfortunately, Warner Bros., the producer of the game, cancelled the installment today, effectively causing 45 members of the staff to be laid off.
This news comes nearly right after a tweet made by 5th Cell lead animator Tim Borrelli today, where his wording made it seem as if the entire studio was closing down.
RIP 5TH Cell. If anyone is looking for kickass artists, programmers, designers, QA, IT, and more, let me know. pic.twitter.com/xwMZVF76Wb
— Tim Borrelli (@Anim8der) March 21, 2016
Following the confusing wording, 5th Cell released a statement that details exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. The statement is as follows:
“Unfortunately, due to a project cancellation, we have had to let go of 45 of our very talented staff members today.
Layoffs aren’t something we take lightly and we’d like to thank all our employees for all the hard work and dedication over the years.
5TH Cell as a company is not closing down, but our focus right now is 100% on helping our staff make the transition to other external opportunities. If we haven’t already reached out, any interested employer can reach us at [email protected].”
Though we’re happy to hear that the studio isn’t shutting down entirely, it’s still sad to hear that it’s struggling. Hopefully this isn’t the end of the Scribblenauts series– for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Written by George Comatas
As a wannabe social media personality and professional in the world of sarcasm, George does his best to always adapt to the changing world around him. He considers himself a maverick: a true-to-heart gamer with the mind of a pop star. Whether this makes him revolutionary or a setback, he's yet to find out. But one thing’s for sure; he's one-of-a-kind.
