In a sad turn of events, we’ve learned veteran and legendary game developer David Jaffe (God of War, Twisted Metal) has confirmed big layoffs at his indie studio, The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency. What’s more, the project they were working on has been cancelled, all of which a result of their publisher cutting off funding.

Wanted y’all to hear it from me before anyone else: we’ve had a project canceled and have been forced to lay off the vast majority of the Bartlet Jones staff gaming division,” Jaffe said on Twitter. “More news to come but for now, that’s what’s up. Heart’s breaking for the amazingly talented crew that’s out of work :(.”

The studio was developing their next game with a contract from an unconfirmed publisher until this past Monday, upon which they cut off funding to the staff and their project. Jaffe declined to comment on what kind of game they were making, but he did confirm the decision was made after their publisher money was cut off.

“That was the vast majority of where we were getting our funding from,” Jaffe said to Kotaku. “When they pulled the plug, we were forced to do layoffs.” Now the studio only employs seven of its former two dozen employees.

While it remains unclear what the future for Jaffe’s studio looks like, the studio boss posted a ten minute video to Twitter saying “the last days of Bartlet Jones?!?”, where he touches base with the remaining staff, talk up their options – and of course, talk up the “new NeoGAF,” also known as ResetEra.

Jaffe did say the remaining staff will be paid for a few weeks, during which they’ll kick around a new game project and see how it pans out – as well as its funding.

Our best wishes to Jaffe and his studio – we really liked Drawn to Death and hope their new project, whatever it is, can turn out well.