007 Legends dev Eurocom lays off remaining staff
007 Legends and GoldenEye 007 developer Eurocom entered administration this morning, with the 42 staff members remaining after last month's layoffs let go. Dean Nelson, from UK business advisory firm Smith Cooper, has been appointed administrator of the company.
Eurocom issued a statement to Eurogamer saying that, following pressure from Revenue & Customs, the company decided to file its intention to appoint an administrator in order to allow time to try to save the business. However, contract negotiations with potential clients weren't secured in time, and without enough money to pay its bills, a member of UK business advisory firm Smith cooper was appointed administrator of the company.
The full statement from Eurocom is after the break.
Today Dean Nelson, from Midlands business advisory firm Smith Cooper, was appointed Administrator of Eurocom Developments Limited, who have been experiencing financial difficulties due to expected contracts being delayed, which has resulted in a severe cash flow shortage.
Since 2008, there has been a steep decline in the sales of Console and PC games, which has led to a severe contraction in the number of new games being commissioned from global publishers of entertainment software. The company has also faced intense competition from developers in countries with lower costs or those subsidised with generous games tax credits.
As a result of pressure from HMRC, the directors of Eurocom filed a Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator at Court in order to allow time for attempts to save the Eurocom business. The Administrator and the company's directors have been negotiating with customers surrounding new contracts to develop console games, however these contracts could not be secured in time and due to insufficient funds to pay outstanding wages, Eurocom today entered Administration.
As a result, the remaining 42 employees have been made redundant today and the business has ceased to trade after some 25 years, having grown organically to become one of the largest and most prolific independent console games developers worldwide.
The Directors of Eurocom would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to all their staff that have been made redundant at this difficult time, and show their appreciation of all of their hard work in consistently delivering exceptional games.
Eurocom follows Bizarre Creations as the second company trusted with the Bond license to have its entire staff laid off in the last two years. Bond, buddy, you don't have a license to kill developers.
