It appears that THQ has decided to lay off some of the people employed by Big Huge Games, the developer studio that is wholly owned by THQ and responsible for the Rise of Nations series. Earlier, the publisher stated that it aimed to sell the development studio or to close it down as part of a strategy to focus on quality and big releases, set to improve the financial situation of the developer and publisher.

The news of layoffs, which were described as being “huge,” has been broken by consumer site Develop. It appears that the people who were let go had not been notified ahead of time that the company would be restructured in any way.

A THQ spokesperson told gaming site GameSpot that a sale is still seen as the best solution to the situation regarding Big Huge Games. He stated that “We continue to pursue a sale of Big Huge Games. Yesterday, some of the staff were notified that they were not going to be part of the future direction of the studio. We are not providing exact headcounts at this time.”

It's sad to see that Big Huge Games is going under. Recently, the company confirmed that it was creating a role playing game, with Ken Rolston, who worked on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, saying that the title would provide a solid experience while pushing the boundaries of the genre. If the studio does not find a buyer soon, then we might never get to see that project being released.

Big Huge Games was created in 2000 and its founders have quite the pedigree when it comes to making videogames. They participated in the development of the Civilization series, Alpha Centauri and Gettysburg. Unfortunately, their talent is not enough to keep the studio afloat.