This is hilarious and rather sad. How did Annapurna fumble such famous talent so bad?
https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/blade-runner-2033-...
> From Annapurna Interactive, ...
Sounds like it's the same group. I doubt they're leaving with the IP but I also doubt that Annapurna Productions is going to make a game with it.
AOL+Time Warner is up there in the history of worst mergers.
Creative business, especially games, should really not be publicly traded or thought of as having major returns on investments.
It might work on start, but sooner or later the "current hit game" will fade out of popularity and then people will get fired and crunch will become the norm etc... in order to satisfy the "line must go up" mentality, but since game dev is a hit driven business that clashes with the "Line must go up" concept at its core since, being a hit driven business, means that it's totaly unpredictable.
No one can guarantee the commercial success of a novel, film or video game.
In the case of a public company that is assumed to be profit, because the shareholders are a vast and ever changing group. Annapurna isn't public, so it serves whatever the private owners want.
Even in a publicly traded stock, the company charter can specify something other than profit. The shareholders know that when they buy stock.
In other words there is more leeway than we commonly give credit. The notion of a fiduciary duty to be greedy is pushed by psychopathic CEOs but isn't really what the law says.