Friday the thirteenth has proven unlucky for some staff at Shanda (SNDA). China's leading online game developer has confirmed that with the company's focus shifting to digital home entertainment, it is going to relocate many of the services at its Beijing branch office to Shanghai.

Local media reported today that Shanda will lay off a large portion of its employees at its Beijing branch office and move the remaining staff to Shanghai. But a Shanda representative has denied this, saying that all the Beijing employees can choose to relocate to the Shanghai office if they like.

The Shanda representative also says the Beijing office will still remain open, but will be responsible for the company's sales channel, business development and daily server maintenance. The office previously was primarily engaged in Shanda's music business.

Shanda currently has more than 2500 employees, of which most are working in Shanghai.

Shanda has not made any announcement on the resignation of Qian Zhonghua, general manager of the Beijing Branch.