While Richard Garriott is off in Russia brushing up on his cosmonaut-ness his company seems to be shedding weight to propel itself into orbit as well. Inside sources are reporting what might be seen as a cost cutting measure or as a sign of danger for the company, lay offs in several areas.

Twenty-one positions have been eliminated in the Austin-based operations for the company in the Product Development division. From what we’re told it was only research and development of titles that had not been announced and now probably never will see the light of day.

The other area taking a personnel hit is the Dungeon Runners porting team. It seems that NCSoft has decided against taking the game to any other platforms and is stopping all development on it. We do not know exactly how many people were in that division or have been laid off but we’ll keep you apprised of any information that comes our way.

Is the company in financial trouble and attempting to shed some liabilities or is it simply just a matter of the projects not being viable or not looking profitable? We don’t know but I’m sure more will come to light as time goes on.

Publisher Edit: Our sources have just confirmed that Tabula Rasa is safe and has no bearing on the current layoffs.