MYST Creator Cyan World's Reduced to Two - 5.9.05

Cyan Worlds, the creator of the classic MYST series of games have all but closed up shop after failing to secure financial backing for their future projects.

Of the company's 40 employees, all have been laid off apart from co-founder Rand Miller and president Tony Fryman.

The news is surprising when you consider MYST was once the best selling game in history, only conceding the title after many years to the megapopular The Sims:

It may seem unfathomable for the company whose Myst and Riven games have exceeded 12 million units sold worldwide to fall on such troubled times. Unfortunately, the company risked many years and millions of dollars to develop the ambitious Uru, which ultimately failed to capture the massively-multiplayer audience it hoped to reach, leaving Cyan with financial burdens too deep to overcome.

There may be a ray of hope for Cyan fans however; Cyan's Bill Slease has said on his blog that the move is purely financial, and if the situation picks up in the future, Miller and Fryman plan on re-hiring any members of the team that haven't moved on.

End of Ages, the fifth instalment of MYST is set to be released on the 20th of this month, and will be the final part of the long-running saga.

Sayonara to Cyan Worlds
End of Cyan F.A.Q. Via Slashdot

Related:
CyanWorlds.com
Official Cyan Worlds Profile
Official site for MYST V
MYST on Wikipedia
Myst Island Birthday Cake
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