Report: Obsidian hit with layoffs, next-gen project canceled, South Park affected

According to several Tweets and hastily updated LinkedIn profiles of Obsidian employees, the developer has been hit with a round of layoffs, the size and scope of which is still unclear.

According to several Tweets and hastily updated LinkedIn profiles of Obsidian employees, the developer has been hit with a round of layoffs, the size and scope of which is still unclear. The damage is being tracked in a forum post on the company's site, which dug up the departures of lead programmer Frank Kowalkowski, UI artist Jason Sereno and level designer Casey Kwock, to name just a few.

A tipster gave Joystiq more purported details on the firings, saying, "Another project canceled, this time for a future next-gen project and the layoffs impacted that team, plus the existing South Park team." The next-gen project appears to have been codenamed Project North Carolina, while several LinkedIn profiles show that the fired employees did indeed work on the South Park RPG. The tipster added that "approximately 20-30 people" were let go, including someone who started at the company just yesterday.

We've reached out to a few of the affected employees for our own first-hand corroboration, and also to THQ, as the company's recent financial troubles might have had an impact on the funding for Obsidian's South Park RPG.

Update: Vox Games' sources confirm that the layoffs were triggered in party by the cancellation of Project North Carolina.