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EA closes Bright Light Studio (Harry Potter Dev)
- Thread starter CyReN
- Start date
sixteen-bit
Member
There goes my hope for Quidditch World Cup 2
Metalmurphy
Member
They had 100 people working on that? oO
Yeah, EA probably had no reason to keep them around any longer.
Fare Godmace
Member
I guess you could say that EA casted an Avada Kedabra on them!
Neuromancer
Member
That sucks for people who lost their job, but hopefully they will all move on to bigger and better things. Working in a dedicated Harry Potter studio doesn't sound like much fun.
TemplaerDude
Member
I dunno, maybe they all really like Harry Potter.
I'd be a joyous little duckling if I worked at a studio that just made shitty X-Files light gun games.
Cygnus X-1
Member
What a surprise.
Cosmo Clock 21
Banned
They could have, like, put them on a different project. Or even a new IP!
At the very least it seems like some employees got relocated to other EA studios, which is slightly better than just completely letting everybody go.
Beelzeboss
Member
There goes my hope for a Bioware Hogwarts
Keyser Soze
Member
I Expectod this to happened
Sure they could have, but we know that this not how these companies operate. :/
I know it's not by the same author but it does target the same age group....I'm surprised that there is not a The Hunger Games video game announced.
Recent movie tie-ins have, in general, sold like shit. I'm not surprised studios aren't eager to produce more of that kind of game.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
The HP games were awful anyway - mostly fetch quests all over the castle.
BoobPhysics101
Banned
'So long and thanks for all the profits. Find a new job.'
They where really bad, I got excited when someone said it would be like "Gears of Hogwarts" or something like that. Only good/decent Harry Potter games are the early ones, Quidditch World Cup, and the Lego series.
cpp_is_king
Member
You actually think they profited off a 20-something metacritic game? What planet do you live on?
TemplaerDude
Member
I'm prettttty sure the Harry Potter games were very successful for EA.
** According to Wikipedia, the series has sold 40 million copies collectively.
cpp_is_king
Member
I wonder how many of those were due to the last 2 games of the series.
Raging Spaniard
If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
I worked with them for a while, not a fan of their products but they were all cool people. Hope they all find gigs soon.
TemplaerDude
Member
I hate to break this to you, but kids love Harry Potter and don't give a flying fuck about metacritic scores.
Australia was the best team. Hands down. Man, I love me some QWC and I'm not even sure why. I could play that shit for hours on end.
Yep, EA UK at first, followed by EA Bright Light. It wasn't always the plan to make them a Harry Potter factory and they made that 'Create' game but that horribly bombed and probably killed the studio.
Am I the only one who would be OK with a HP game that lets you live all 7 years in the world of Hogwarts?
Sort of Bully, but better. 4 stories depending on what group you'r selected, no necessarely related to what happened to Harry. Like you're anon, and have you've your own problems that can or cannot be related with Potter ones. IE Ravenclaw guys goes with Slytherin guys at Potions, wanna help Cho so you have to piss off Slytherin with sabotage, etc. And if you do something or the opposite, it lead to changes on what happens to Harry and your own history (I'm going mad-Obsidian-style here, yep).
I guess the main problem is HP world don't have enough lore to produce alternate/independent stories. Think of how many charms are learned in the series. 20 in total? Dev had to invent too much.
Sort of Bully, but better. 4 stories depending on what group you'r selected, no necessarely related to what happened to Harry. Like you're anon, and have you've your own problems that can or cannot be related with Potter ones. IE Ravenclaw guys goes with Slytherin guys at Potions, wanna help Cho so you have to piss off Slytherin with sabotage, etc. And if you do something or the opposite, it lead to changes on what happens to Harry and your own history (I'm going mad-Obsidian-style here, yep).
I guess the main problem is HP world don't have enough lore to produce alternate/independent stories. Think of how many charms are learned in the series. 20 in total? Dev had to invent too much.
I'm OK also if it only takes 1 year so the can release 7 games
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
To the best of my knowledge the PS3/Xbox/PC versions were done by the same team in Guildford, I know the DS versions were outsourced to a completely independent team at Full-Fat in Coventry.
I wouldn't be too hard on the Bright Light guys, from what I understand it was a difficult project politically - Rowling's representatives were all over it.
I wouldn't be too hard on the Bright Light guys, from what I understand it was a difficult project politically - Rowling's representatives were all over it.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Create wasn't perfect, but it was entertaining and it's a bit of a pity it didn't catch on. The studio also did Spare Parts for PSN/XBLA, which had a lot of promise as a sort of light, Ratchet and Clank ish game. It was not very good though. Not really sure why the studio's products didn't quite gel.
SteveWinwood
Member
I can't imagine they made it too easy.
Oh and these are the guys that made Spare Parts too? I guess I can kinda see why EA didn't really keep them around from a business perspective.
Baron_Calamity
Member
Yes. In fact i remember reading an interview with the Bright Light studio head about how they wanted to return to a Bullfrog IP after Harry Potter was done.
Guerrillas in the Mist
Member
I enjoyed the (Eurocom-developed?) Chamber of Secrets game back in the day. It was a sort of Harry Potter-themed Zelda-lite, and it was surprisingly decent, although it could be rose-tinted goggles at work there. My little brother got the Goblet of Fire game, which was a top down co-op action game thing with the odd physics puzzle for good measure, and that looked pretty "meh". So it's been a pretty interesting mix when it comes to genres and HP tie-ins.
I read somewhere that the HP games Bright Light developed prior to the Deathly Hallows games were alright, and the team was likely highly constrained for both time and what they could and couldn't do. A real shame that some of them are losing their jobs, as it would be for anyone at this time.
I read somewhere that the HP games Bright Light developed prior to the Deathly Hallows games were alright, and the team was likely highly constrained for both time and what they could and couldn't do. A real shame that some of them are losing their jobs, as it would be for anyone at this time.
Not to mention the games got worse as it went on.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Should have put them on a video game version of The Hunger Games.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
As a child, my suspension of disbelief was shattered when the compulsory wizarding tests in the story required the use of spells I wasn't supposed to have (snuck out at night to get them etc).
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