Rift developer lays off up to 40

The studio behind Rift may have laid off as many as 40 members of its development team this week. Gamasutra reports Trion Worlds terminated up to a third of the developers behind the MMORPG, whose positions ranged from artists to designers, an affected employee said.

Trion Worlds confirmed the layoffs were "in response to market conditions, product timelines and the natural evolution of our company," though it did not address specific numbers. Storm Legion, the first expansion pack for Rift, released in November.

The online gaming company also announced delays for massively multiplayer real-time strategy game End of Nations last week. Trion Worlds ended its contract with external developer Petroglyph and will continue work on the game with an internal team.