Sony Online Entertainment today confirmed to Next-Gen in a phone interview that it has acquired developer Sigil Games and the studio's MMO Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, resulting in job losses; small group from Sigil also working on MMO prototype for SOE.

According to Courtney Simmons, director of corporate communications and PR at SOE, “less than half” of Sigil’s employees will be losing their jobs in the wake of the acquisition. The Carlsbad, Calif.-based developer had employed around 100 workers in total.

The majority of the people staying are on the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes team, according to Simmons. Those who were laid off typically held positions that were “redundant,” such as customer service and marketing jobs, she said.

Simmons also said that some of the layoffs were part of the natural ramping down of game development following a game’s release. “It doesn’t take as many people to maintain a game as it does making a game," she said.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes launched near the end of January this year.

SOE will retain Sigil’s Carlsbad location as the latest addition to SOE’s stable of studios which includes locations in San Diego, Seattle, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles and Taiwan.

Sigil employees who are staying on board will continue to work on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes in the Carlsbad location. However, there will be a small group of five people who will be working in SOE’s San Diego office 30 miles away from Carlsbad on a prototype for a new MMO. Simmons said that it’s merely an “exploratory” effort that may or may not be realized as a final product.

Sigil CEO and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes executive producer Brad McQuaid will not be part of the exploratory group, but will rather act as a consultant with SOE as Vanguard Creative Advisor.

The Sigil brand will be dissolved after the acquisition. The move is circular to an extent, as former SOE employees left the publisher to found Sigil in 2002.

SOE classifies Sigil’s latest effort, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes as “highly successful,” selling around 200,000 copies since its release this past January. However, McQuaid, who is one of the original designers of the hit online game EverQuest, recently stated in a message board post that his latest game “is doing decently but not as well as we hoped.”

He cited troubles with the game’s marketing, high system requirements and game bugs that plagued the title, resulting in middling reviews.

McQuaid said that Sigil and SOE were "in talks" regarding a possible acquisition in late April.

SOE acquired the rights to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes in May 2006 and co-published the game along with Sigil.

As for the future of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Simmons said that SOE is committed to fostering the game’s community, adding that new content will be released “in about a week.”