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Harmonix lays off 14 - Report

Rhythm game developer cuts staff for second time this year, fifth time in four years

Harmonix has undergone another round of layoffs. According to Gamastura, the rhythm game developer dropped 14 employees from across the studio today "to reduce our overhead and align our business with our current development slate."

A representative with the studio told the site, "This was a difficult decision and we're grateful to our friends and former colleagues for their many contributions. We're working to ensure that they're taken care of as we make this change."

The cuts come less than a month after Harmonix launched its music mixing game DropMix, a collaboration with Hasbro that requires a smartphone app as well as a special game board and playing cards with NFC chips. Harmonix said it is continuing to work on DropMix and its signature Rock Band franchsie, as well as unannounced projects.

This is the second time this year Harmonix has cut staff. It laid off 17 people in February as part of a restructuring "to align with our current and anticipated development needs." This also makes five rounds of layoffs in just under four years. Harmonix also cut staff in December of 2013, May of 2014, and January of 2016.

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Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot in the US.