The need for cuts at KO-OP came about for the same reason they’ve been happening at so many other game studios these days: the funding dried up. Dabbous said KO-OP has been on shaky ground before–“KO-OP has never had a game that's been a hit and has brought sustainable revenue into the studio. By all means, KO-OP should not exist.”--but that in the past they’ve usually been able to get funding for their next project within six months of finishing the previous one.

I think the nature of running a co-operative in the games industry does not exactly remove the element of risk from the business prospects, but I'm glad to hear that it's at least more democratic and communicative.