Inside Annapurna Interactive's Mass Walkout: Internal Politics, the Surprise Remedy Deal, and Why It All Happened

ign.com:

Last week, Bloomberg reported that 25 people comprising the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive walked out the door in a group resignation. But while some of the circumstances around their departure emerged in the reporting, one pressing question was left unanswered: why?

Having spoken to multiple individuals close to the situation who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal, as well as an Annapurna spokesperson, IGN has pieced together a somewhat complex answer. Disagreements over the direction of the Interactive division, chaotic departures, communication breakdowns, and a perceived lack of leadership transparency at Annapurna Interactive led to a staff walk-out that has left 25 individuals jobless, Annapurna leaders scrambling, and numerous developers concerned about their contracts with the publisher.

Though the collapse of Annapurna Interactive as we once knew it started earlier this year, its roots lie in the company's historical leadership structure. Annapurna Interactive was initially conceived as the gaming division of Annapurna Pictures, which was founded by film producer and billionaire Megan Ellison in 2011. Annapurna Interactive itself was spun up in 2016, tapping a staff of industry veterans including including former Sony creative director Nathan Gary, former Sony executive producer Deborah Mars, and former Sony producer Hector Sanchez for leadership roles. Sanchez left the company in 2019.

The film side of Annapurna's business has undergone well-publicized struggles. In 2018, it was bleeding enough money to prompt Ellison's father, multi-billionaire Larry Ellison, to step in. By 2019, Annapurna Pictures was reportedly teetering on bankruptcy, and in the ensuing years its film and TV output slowed significantly. Variety reports that Ellison disappeared from public life in 2019 almost entirely, leaving her business to largely run itself during the height of the pandemic. She reemerged in 2021, only to name Gary president over all of Annapurna, with