While it didn’t officially get kicked off until November 20, developer SuperBoy seemed to have a good year. After two years in development, PlayStaton All-Stars Battle Royale was released to much anticipation and a solid critical reception. Apparently that wasn’t enough, as reports are coming in that the studio has laid off around 20 people.

Insomniac Games, who much like SuperBot works predominatly with Sony, designer Mike Birkhead has confirmed the news via Twitter:

He then followed up saying that around 2o employees have been laid off.

It’s unclear whether this signals that the game was underwhelming for Sony, or whether the company simply wants to downsize the studio after development of their first major game has wrapped up.

We’ve contacted SuperBot and Sony for comment and will report back with any updates.

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So sad...

Damn, hope they'll still be given the chance to develop PSABR2. I want to see how they improve.

I hope they get rid of the guy who made the net code, can't play this online.

Shoulda put Cloud and Snake in your game, dawgs.

20 people laid off after the completion of a major product cycle is probably more normal than anything else. The fact that the game sold so poorly, I'm surprised it wasn't more than this. I assume Superbot employs around 100 people at least, as is typically the size required to make a PS3 game.

Yep, definitely needed the Sony big hitters to sell more. Suppose that is the weakness on relying on 3rd parties.

It obviously has something to do with PSASBR. It's not because they just want to downsize.

Though, this is sad. It's not good that any studio is laying off employees. But at least they aren't THQ.

I don't think it has to do with PSASBR - They were hiring a couple of weeks ago. Probably just some people who were on the job temporarily.

... for PSASBR? Could be, it's not a bad thing, though.

Damn Sony, Why you no not fire employees?