Iain Butler, a spokesman for Callaghan Innovation, initially said the government grants agency had given Gameloft a research and development grant of $2.9 million back in 2014. The total has since been updated to $3 million on the agency’s Twitter, which confirmed they can reclaim the money under a “claw back” clause:
The total sum of the grant was clarified in response to a question about whether there was a long statement from the agency on the issue:
The mention that dismissed Gameloft employees will be able to find work at other companies in the country may be a little optimistic, though the NZ game industry is reportedly still growing and expected to add more jobs in the future. Whether or not those new opportunities will be enough to absorb the blow of a fifth of the workforce losing their jobs remains to be seen.
