38 Studios and Big Huge Games Lay Off All Staff

Joystiq is reporting that both 38 Studios and Big Huge Games have layed off their entire staff only an hour before a scheduled press conference is about to take place addressing the dubious loan situation that has been a fairly hot political topic in Rhode Island.

So those Project Copernicus screens I wrote about this morning? You might want to file those under the "what might have been" category.

This situation is still developing but certainly leads one to believe that there is a lot going on behind the scenes of 38 Studios that we may just find out about yet. Or maybe the name has become so sullied in Rhode Island at this point that securing private funding was an impossibility.

Big Huge Games lead world designer Colin Campbell has taken to his twitter account: "Big Huge Games was home for my wife and me for our adult lives so far. I'll miss it terribly, but so proud. Good night and good luck,"

More as it comes.

 Update: Kotuku is reporting the staff at 38 Studios have basically been in the dark this entire time. Only finding out that their insurance was running out when one of the developers' pregnant wives was told by her Doctor.

A former 38 Studios employee wrote to Kotaku:

38 Studios just laid off its entire staff, both Providence and BHG studios are being shuttered.

We have not received a paycheck since April 30th.

On May 15th, we found out we were not getting paid when our checks did not hit our accounts.

Our medical insurance runs out tonight at midnight.

We found this out when an employee's pregnant wife was told by her doctor, this was on Tuesday 22nd May this week.

The company has not communicated anything concrete to the team throughout this process, leaving team members to figure out insurance stop-gaps (where people could afford it), etc. on their own.