Big Huge Games and 38 Studios close, lay off staffs

The saga of 38 Studios over the last two weeks has been long and winding. The embattled studio made headlines last week when it was revealed that they were going to have trouble making their loan payments.

Now, reports indicate that the company has laid off its entire staff after witholding paychecks since April 30th. The revelation came from an employee testimony shortly after 38 announced the closure of Rise of Nations developer Big Huge Games, which was acquired by 38 Studios after a bankruptcy scare in 2009.

Kotaku received an email from an anonymous 38 Studios employee today shedding some light on working conditions at the company:

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"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."

These specific details are anonymous and as-yet still not completely verified by an official source.