Silicon Knights, the development studio responsible for Eternal Darkness, Too Human, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and, more recently, X-Men Destiny have confirmed reports that the Canadian-based organization has laid off a number of their employees. The cause of the layoffs appear to be connected to the unexpected cancellation of a mystery project, resulting in the loss of over 40 employees.

Speaking to the Financial Post, Chief Financial Officer Mike Mays had this to say about the layoffs,

“We had another project lined up that had been in the works for months, which had been green-lit and at the final second, at the high corporate level, the project got canceled. We don’t know why. Probably something to do with the publisher on their side, but that resulted in us having too many people so we had to do a layoff.”

There has been no word on what sort of game Silicon Knights was working on before it was canceled or who the publisher was. Despite the lack of critical success with Too Human and X-Men Destiny, it is always sad to see studios forced into letting their staff go. Our thoughts go out to those who are out of a job and hope they are able to find employment again soon.