Things were looking a little precarious for DJ Hero developer FreeStyleGames as Activision shelved the record-spinning franchise back in February, but the studio has today confirmed to VG247 that it's working on an "innovative" new project despite having to cut 35 staff from its workforce.

“Over the past three months we have examined a number of options for our studio’s future with Activision,” said FreeStyle's Jamie Jackson. “Today we are excited to share with our fans and community the news that we will continue our strong partnership with Activision, with work starting on a new, innovative project.

“While we are still in a consultation process with the studio, we cannot release details about the project we will be working
on but we look forward to sharing more information in the coming months. We’d like to thank the team, our fans, the media and the video game industry at large for their support during this period.”

However, Design Director David Osbourn noted that around 35 job roles at FreeStyle will be adversely affected: “We envisage that approximately 35 roles will be impacted and are consulting with the studio to offer tools and resources, including outplacement counseling services and career fairs etc to those employees affected,” he said. “Although we will be really sorry to lose members of the Freestyle Games family we have no doubt that their talents will be in high demand throughout the industry.”

Still, it must be nice for FreeStyleGames to now feel back on solid ground following the canning of the DJ Hero series. What the studios new project will be is currently under wraps however, but it's possible that something could emerge from E3. We'll keep our eyes and ears open.