True Crime dev sheds staff

It has been a tense period to be a studio working with Activision Blizzard in the past few weeks. In addition to shutting down veteran racing house Bizarre Creations, the publishing giant pulled the plug on its ailing rhythm game and skateboarding franchises at the top of the month, leading to an indefinite postponement of future Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, and Tony Hawk development.

United Front Games and its True Crime: Hong Kong were also a target of the publisher's culling efforts, after Activision Blizzard heads deemed the project not "good enough." That move has had consequences for United Front, as LinkedIn profiles indicate widespread departures at the Vancouver-based development house.

According to the networking website, more than two dozen onetime United Front employees have indicated that they are no longer with the company. The cuts appear to have been made to a number of disciplines, ranging from game design to animation to engineering, and from varying degrees of seniority. United Front appears to have enacted the round of layoffs on or about last Wednesday.

Founded in 2007, United Front is perhaps best known for its PlayStation 3-exclusive ModNation Racers. Following the cancellation of True Crime: Hong Kong, the studio said in a statement on its website that it will be "setting our creative sights on a different horizon." The studio doesn't currently have any announced projects.

United Front had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.