1UP is reporting that Candian-based development studio Silicon Knights has laid off the majority of their staff following the abyssmal performance of the multiplatform title X-Men Destiny. The rumor claims of the studio's 97 employees, only 25 will remain when the dust clears, and that the entire studio may eventually fold.
Obviously Silicon Knights had a lot riding on the success of X-Men Destiny, and expected the incredible strength of the X-Men license to propel sales, especially considering that this has been a big year for the franchise, with the summer blockbuster X-Men: First Class delivering in the box-office, and a Wolverine vs. Cyclops face-off dominating recent comic book headlines. Sadly, this by the book action adventure was scorned by most major outlets (with our own Joe Donato rating it a mere 3/10). Not to mention there was similar disapointment with Silicon Knight's long awaited RPG Too Human, with the only real star in the company's lineup being Eternal Darkness way back in the GameCube era.
As sad as it is to see a struggling studio, Silicon Knights has been a rather consistant disapointment machine thus far, and it's hard to rally behind them given their recent efforts. Whether they can rebound from this restructuring remains to be seen.
