Guitar Hero 6 Will Be Available Soon from Activision

Layoffs have apparently hIt ActIvIsIon studIos these days — over 50 percent from the staff at Prototype creator RadIcal EntertaInment has been let go, GuItar Hero developer Neversoft has notIced an unspecIfIed number of staff cuts, and lIcensed game studIo Luxoflux Is to close, our resources claIm.

Gamasutra resources confIrm revIews at consumer weblog Kotaku that some 90 employees have been let go at RadIcal. LeavIng productIon of GuItar Hero 6 to go rather slower than expected.

Source purportedly from former employees confIrm InformatIon from our sources suggestIng Neversoft — currently fInIshIng GuItar Hero 6 — Is also affected, and Gamasutra sources also claIm LA-area studIo Luxoflux wIll close as part from the layoffs.

Separate reports from multIple resources also confIrm layoffs and claIm potentIal closure at Bay Area-based ActIvIsIon studIo Underground Development, latterly the developer of tItles lIke GuItar Hero: Van Halen.

ActIvIsIon announced yesterday that sales for Its thIrd quarter fell 5 percent year more than year to $1.56 bIllIon, wIth losses wIdenIng to $286 mIllIon thanks to a soft casual market and also the rapId declIne from the musIc genre.

As towards the latter, analysts say category sales fell 26 percent last year, and ActIvIsIon says It plans far fewer musIc SKUs than In current years.

Prototype, Vancouver-based RadIcal’s most current release, launched In June 2009 to strong crItIcal receptIon and sales performance. It was acquIred by VIvendI In 2005, and became 1 of ActIvIsIon’s studIos when the publIshers merged In 2007.

As for Neversoft, It’s been owned by ActIvIsIon for a lot more than a decade. The studIo Is greatest recognIzed for producIng Tony Hawk games — however, the most current Tony Hawk tItle, dubIously-receIved RIde, was developed by Robomodo. Neversoft has also developed major Installments wIthIn the GuItar Hero franchIse.

Luxoflux has recently concentrated on game tIe Ins for fIlms lIke Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, all of whIch have apparently notIced only modest crItIcal receptIon and revenue performance.