In a bizarre turn of events, the whole team at game publisher Annapurna Interactive has resigned.

Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Ellison, the daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, to spin off the video game division as an independent entity. This is because Annapurna Interactive is currently under the parent company of Annapurna Pictures.

However, Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, so now, Gary and everyone at Annapurna Interactive have resigned, as a result.

In a statement (via Bloomberg), Nathan Gary said:

“All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned. This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.

Our top priority is continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition.

We’re committed to not only our existing slate of games but also expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across film and TV, gaming, and theater.”

According to the spokesperson from the company, all existing games and projects will remain under Annapurna. The newly-appointed president Hector Sanchez (replacing Nathan Gary) has told developers that they will honour existing contracts and replace staff who have left.

What does this mean for the games published under Annapurna Interactive? In recent years, they have published many acclaimed indie games such as 2017’s What Remains Of Edith Finch, 2019’s Outer Wilds, 2022’s Stray, 2023’s Cocoon and many more over the years. It remains to be seen how this will affect Annapurna Interactive in the long term, so we’ll have to wait and see.