The studio behind Sony’s exclusive sci-fi action game Starhawk, Lightbox Interactive, has seen sizable layoffs as well as a shift in platforms. The company confirmed yesterday that they will lay-off 24 employees from their Texas studio as of Friday and that the company will no longer be developing for the PlayStation 3 for the time being. Instead they will focus their development efforts on iOs and other mobile platforms.

The company’s president had this to say to the media:

“Lay-offs always suck but they are an unfortunate reality of business sometimes. The best we can do is try and treat our people with respect during the shocking transition of a lay-off,

It is unfortunate to hear that anyone has lost their jobs. As this console generation gets long in the tooth I’m sure we will see more developers shed a little weight as  they prepare to experiment with the next generation of hardware.

Lightbox Interactive only commercially available games was this past Spring’s Starhawk. They were formed in 2009, signing a multi-title deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America. It is  unknown how this shift in development will affect any of the remaining titles that were part of that deal.