Kaliningrad studio Pictolabra stops working. Its employees believe that the decision to close was made by the MGVC investment fund. That’s just his share in the studio is less than one percent. We tried to understand the situation. Photo: Pictolabra official website
Today, December 20, the editorial office App2Top.ru I received an email from an anonymous address.
It was reported that this was a collective letter from the staff of the studio Pictolabra, whose main production facilities are located in Kaliningrad.
According to the letter:
- “from the very moment of its creation until the last day, the studio existed due to the investments of the MGVC venture fund”;On December 14, the studio management announced to employees that “MGVC has decided to stop funding our studio and, as a result, to close it”;
- the management of Pictolabra also told employees that there is only enough money in the accounts to pay off vacation debts and pay for two weeks of work;
- at the moment, the entire studio staff is being reduced without compliance with the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (according to Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer is obliged to warn employees personally or under signature at least two months before dismissal due to staff reduction or liquidation of the organization).
- “There is no question of any warning to us, employees, two months before the reduction or payment of the two salaries required by law if the reduction occurs immediately,” the letter says.
The Pictolabra team does not understand “how it is possible to make a decision to reduce the studio of 30 people in one day and at the same time completely ignore the legal rights of employees.” He also wonders, “why were the studios not given the opportunity to start looking for other investors in advance or help with this issue? Maybe it was possible to somehow transfer the studio to another foundation?”.
Here is the full version of the letter:
Our source at Pictolabra confirmed that the letter was written by studio staff.
We also contacted MGVC. According to them, they really stopped paying off loans. However, according to them:
- their share in the studio is less than 1%;on their part, the entire volume of investments was paid;
- the studio management knew about the termination of payments in advance;
- At the moment, on an initiative basis, the HR department of MY.GAMES helps Pictolabra employees find a job.
- Speaking about the reasons why MGVC stopped working with Pictolabra, the foundation notes that the studio failed to achieve the fulfillment of the original agreements.
Full comment from MGVC:
“MGVC has been an investor in Pictolabra since the end of 2018, having a stake in the studio of less than 1%. As part of the terms of our cooperation, we provided a loan for the development of the studio and the development of products that Pictolabra presented to us during the discussion of the investment round. The studio was provided with the entire volume of the agreed investments, we fulfilled all obligations in full. Unfortunately, according to the results of this round, the studio failed to achieve the goals and results that were discussed at the start of cooperation. As a result, it was decided not to hold the next round of investments.The assessment of the achievement of the agreed goals with our partners takes place several times a year, this is done so that each of the parties sees the situation comprehensively and has the opportunity to take the necessary steps to adjust its strategy.
During the next internal discussion, according to the information available to us, the management of Pictolabra decided to reduce the operational activities of the studio. All MGVC partner studios continue to be independent teams and make management decisions independently. At the same time, we understand that this is a difficult moment for the whole team. It is important for us to support our partners, so we will do everything possible to help Pictolabra employees and find new employment opportunities for them.“
If you have information that you can share on the situation with the editorial board (including on an anonymous basis), write to alexander.semenov@app2top.ru .