Kotaku sources suggest that the studio has axed a "significant" chunk of its employees, although Rockstar didn’t comment on the figure in an official statement issued to the site.
"As is typical with game development, our team sizes have always fluctuated over the course of the development cycle,” said studio manager Steve Martin. “As Rockstar San Diego transitions from the launch of Red Dead Redemption onto future projects, we are realigning our resources in order to continue to develop games as effectively as possible.
“We are ensuring that all employees who are affected by these changes are being treated with care. While we have no announcements to make regarding a sequel to Red Dead Redemption, the team here are hard at work on the development of downloadable content for the game."
Released in May, Red Dead Redemption has been a commercial and critical hit. The game sold 1.5 million copies in its first month in the US and topped the UK all formats chart for five weeks running. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions have garnered Metascores of 95.
Earlier this year, during the latter part of the game’s development cycle, it was alleged that poor working conditions at Rockstar San Diego were negatively affecting the quality of life of employees and their family members.