It seems that the folks over at Artifact Entertainment are shaking things up a bit:

June 16, 2004 Over the past 48 hours Artifact Entertainment has made a tough decision to restructure its workforce and streamline operations, therefore improving the company's overall financial health. While there were layoffs involved, staff responsible for supporting the company's principal product, Horizons, are very much on board and at work. Artifact Entertainment will continue to provide quality support to Horizons players. We are actively helping those impacted by the reductions in staff in acquiring new employment. They have done excellent work and we wish for them to swiftly find other opportunities. This restructuring has already significantly improved the company's situation. We're committed to the Horizons community and value the relationships we have with our loyal fans. David Bowman President - Artifact Entertainment

It hasn't been officially announced by Mr. Bowman anywhere who were the unlucky people affected by the "restructuring" but several of them have spoke up on their own in various places:

Kristen Demezza - "Shetani" World Master:

From Shetani: Just to confirm, I am indeed leaving Artifact Entertainment. As to any other speculations regarding other employees or the state of the company, I cannot say. I just wanted to confirm my personal piece of the rumors. Thank you folks for the good times. I hope you'll all have many more.

Jason Waldrom - World Administrator:

From Jason Waldrom: Well, I figure this might be as good a place as any, but I am no longer at AE either. Shetani is a great person as are all the people that do, and have, worked at AE. For those of you that may not be familiar with me, I was a World Administrator and handled the simulation and the servers that housed it. Some of you may know me better by my toon's name: Suedomsa. I will continue to play with this character on Twilight, so if any of you see me, feel free to say 'Hi'. As for the current state of AE and Horizons, the game is still up and people are still working there. I wish the best for them all. _____________________________ Jason Waldrom World Administrator Horizons

Jason M - "Amon Gwareth" Former CSR:

From Amon Gwareth Figured I'd add my two cents here. First of all, I can confirm that I am no longer working for Artifact Entertainment. I also want to say that it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life to work there and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I also want to say thanks to all of the players and that I'll miss you all. For those of you on the Life shard, good luck and take care! Jason M "Amon Gwareth" Former CSR, Artifact Entertainment

And last, but certainly not least, Community Manager Gale:

Gale: I can confirm the rumors, I am no longer working at Artifact, either. It's been a blast and I thank everyone, even you trolls, for keeping things interesting :-)

Rumors are flying all over the place as to exactly how many people have been let go, you can follow a couple of the main threads by clicking here and here.