User blog:Jcpag2010/Scribblenauts series has been closed!

5th Cell CEO Jeremiah Slaczka has spoken to Polygon about the news, and has confirmed that the studio remains open but layoffs have taken place:


 * WB cancelled [Scribblenauts: Fighting Words] today so we had to lay off the staff. It happened so quick we're not sure what the plans are going forward yet.

Here's the full statement, issued after Slaczka's initial comment:


 * Unfortunately, due to a project cancellation, we have had to let go of 45 of our very talented staff members today.


 * Layoffs aren't something we take lightly and we'd like to thank all our employees for all the hard work and dedication over the years.


 * 5th Cell as a company is not closing down, but our focus right now is 100% on helping our staff make the transition to other external opportunities. If we haven't already reached out, any interested employer can reach us at jobs@5thcell.com.

5th Cell, the studio behind the best-selling Scribblenauts series, has closed.

The company was founded in 2003 as 5th Cell Media, LLC and its early works included Lock's Quest and Drawn to Life on the Nintendo DS. However, the studio's most famous work has to be the aforementioned Scribblenauts franchise; four titles were produced in total, with Scribblenauts Unlimited and Scribblenauts Unmasked both appearing on the Wii U and 3DS.

The news was broken on Twitter by 5th Cell lead animator Tim Borrelli:


 * "RIP 5th Cell. If anyone is looking for kickass artists, programmers, designers, QA, IT, and more, let me know. " - Tim Borrelli

5th Cell had been working on Anchors in the Drift, a title which was intended to be crowdfunded via the new Fig platform. It failed to reach its funding target, although the studio was adamant that work would continue with a Summer 2016 release expected.

Our thoughts are with 5th Cell's staff.