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"Sony and Lightbox Interactive have revealed that they are going their separate ways, resulting in layoffs for the developer. Lightbox Interactive pre-emptively informed staff that the studio will suffer layoffs of 24 employees on Friday (October 19). The layoffs immediately follow the studio&amp;#039;s publishing relationship ending with Sony.   Though Lightbox has technically always been an independent studio, the developer had a strong relationship with publisher Sony. The studio was formed in 2009 primarily by former Incognito Entertainment employees, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. Sony issued a statement today saying, &amp;quot;Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm that it has amicably ended its working agreement with developer LightBox Interactive, Inc.  &amp;quot;We have had a positive and long-standing working relationship with this talented studio, and wish them the best of success in their next endeavor. Starhawk and Warhawk will continue to be supported by Santa Monica Studio.&amp;quot; Lightbox president Dylan Jobe also issued a statement to IGN saying that he wanted to announce the layoffs early, in order to give affected employees time to collect their work for portfolios. He confirmed that all 24 former staff will receive a severance package.  Jobe also revealed that the studio is now shifting its focus and is developing its next project for iOS devices. Lightbox Interactive released the PS3-exclusive sci-fi combat game Starhawk - a spiritual sequel to the Incognito-developed game Warhawk - earlier this year. Read the full statement from Lightbox Interactive president Dylan Jobe below: &amp;quot;I am not shutting down LightBox Interactive but I did pre-emptively inform my staff that there were going to be lay-offs on Friday - 24 people, to be exact. &amp;quot;Too often in our industry, people are &amp;#039;let go&amp;#039; with no warning, no severance, no time at all to prepare their portfolios. It&amp;#039;s actually quite terrible. That&amp;#039;s not how we run things here at LightBox Interactive. The whole reason for me informing my team of lay-offs before they happen is so they have time to prepare. Collect stuff for their portfolios, capture screen shots or video - the stuff that helps people land on their feet. All 24 employees were also given a severance package. &amp;quot;Why the lay-offs? Well, as you know... the industry is changing. We are moving away from traditional console development to self-fund the development of our next game on Apple&amp;#039;s iOS devices. &amp;quot;Santa Monica Studio and Sony Computer Entertainment are fantastic people and great to work with. We have had, and will continue to have, a great relationship with everyone over there and I have no doubt that they&amp;#039;ll continue to bring the kick-ass games - and hardware - to gamers everywhere.&amp;quot; Screenshot gallery - &amp;#039;Starhawk&amp;#039;:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a431521/lightbox-interactive-hit-by-layoffs-as-sony-relationship-ends/>