New report sheds light on Annapurna Interactive implosion while the parent company says it's 'focused on moving forward,' hiring to fill the vacancies, and still working on the Blade Runner game whose devs just walked out the door

pcgamer.com:

Following the shocking mass-resignation of publisher Annapurna Interactive's entire 25-person staff, a new report from IGN has provided more details about the gaming division's dispute with its parent company, Annapurna Pictures, and its billionaire owner, Megan Ellison. Anonymous former employees shared concerns about the Interactive division's future under Annapurna Pictures, and claimed that Ellison refused to continue working with them on an agreement to spin off the division. Spokespeople for the parent company claimed that the division's leader failed to respond to their efforts to move the process forward.

Megan Ellison: Daughter of Larry Ellison, billionaire owner/founder of tech company Oracle. Founded Annapurna Pictures in 2011, which has produced a number of successful, art house-adjacent films.

Nathan Gary: Former Sony employee, founding member of Annapurna's gaming-focused Interactive division. President of Annapurna Pictures overall from 2021-2024, was negotiating to spin off Interactive as a more independent company.

Hector Sanchez: Former Sony employee, founding member of Annapurna Interactive. Left the company to work at Epic for a number of years, returned to head up gaming efforts under Annapurna Pictures (not Interactive) like the deal with Remedy on the future of the Control series.

Annapurna Interactive was founded as a gaming-focused subsidiary of Ellison's Annapurna Pictures in 2016, tapping veteran gaming talent including former Sony employees Nathan Gary and Hector Sanchez. After a run of producing successful films like The Master, Her, and Zero Dark Thirty, Annapurna Pictures began to struggle financially in the late 2010s. The Interactive division, meanwhile, enjoyed continued success with games like Stray, Outer Wilds, and Neon White. Gary was named president of Annapurna Pictures overall in 2021, but a source that spoke to IGN alleged his focus remained on the gaming side of the company.

After having remained hands-off with Annapurna