Annapurna Interactive's whole team quit after owner Megan Ellison dropped its spin-off

Annapurna Interactive, the video-game publishing division of Megan Ellison's Annapurna studio, lost its entire staff in September 2024, Bloomberg reported via Fortune, citing anonymous sources. Division president Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Ellison to spin the games unit off as an independent entity. When Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned and were followed by around two dozen other staffers. An Annapurna spokesperson confirmed that a spin-off had been explored and that the parties failed to reach an agreement.

The exodus caused chaos for developers. As a publisher, Annapurna funds games and also handles quality assurance, localization and marketing, and studios working with it scrambled to find new contacts and learn whether the company would honor its agreements. The division had a reputation for critically acclaimed games from small teams, including Outer Wilds, Stray and Cocoon.

Ellison said Annapurna's priority was supporting its developer and publishing partners during the transition. New president Hector Sanchez, an Annapurna Interactive co-founder brought back the month before, told developers the company would honor existing contracts and replace staff who left.

Ellison withdrew from spin-off talks that the division's leadership had been conducting.

The division's president and about two dozen staff resigned together after the talks ended.

Developers depend on a publisher for funding, QA, localization and marketing, so staff departures disrupted live projects.

A publisher's value sits with its people and relationships. Stalling a spin-off that your team has been told to expect can hand them a reason to leave together.

Annapurna said all existing games and projects would remain under the company, that contracts would be honored, and that it would expand its interactive presence. Hector Sanchez took over as president.