Marvel Heroes Developer Gazillion Shut Down Lays Off Employees Without Severance Pay
Gazillion Entertainment, the studio behind the online role-playing game "Marvel Heroes" has been reportedly shut down with its entire staff laid off the day before Thanksgiving. The game will also close ahead of schedule with the game ceasing operations within the week.
Several former Gazillion employees took to Twitter to announce the studio's closure. Even more troubling is the report that the company fired them without receiving severance pay or paid time off, and that their medical insurance will end next week.
Earlier this month, Disney decided to end its relationship with the developer in a e-mail prompting the team to announce that the game's servers would shut down after Dec. 31. Following the shut down however, "Marvel Heroes" will now be shut down on Friday, rather than the original December date.
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"We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down," Marvel said in a statement. "We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available."
Many players already noticed that the game was in dire straits when There were already troubling reports of layoffs. Gazillion also missed game's Halloween event and upcoming Thor Ragnarok movie tie-in content with the Gladiator Thor pack which was set to be released on Oct. 27. Fans also noticed that two community managers seemed to disappear from the forum, although this was something that they already expected.
Following the announcement, PlayStation and Xbox players began the process of asking for refunds for the money they spent on a game that would no longer be playable. Many players are upset that the "Marvel Heroes" only lasted roughly six months on the platforms especially since many invested a chunk of cash into the game.
According to one player, the shut down feels like a slap in the face on several levels and that he had barely had it and it's already leaving.
