CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Always sad looking through old games and realising the studios aren't around any more.
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List of studios closed since 2006
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
They went from been unknown with a Japanese only release lineup consisting of Mobile games and one PS2 title to been at the top of their time with high profile point and click adventure DS games to releasing Again and falling off the face of the planet.
Ah, I completely forgot about that.
Now that you've mentioned it, I remember that thread where Onq compared it to Wave Race or something, haha.
SolidSnakex
Member
That's an issue with the Western market. You really don't see many Japanese developers attempting to compete with that model. They develop low or mid-range console titles (in terms of budget) and they also develop handheld titles. The lack of handheld titles from Western studios is something that really sticks out. When they do develop the titles they often just come across as being something that they really don't care about. Just look at most of UBI's titles from their major franchises.
Here's another Home space from them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ii6HM4_uYY
KennyLinder
Member
I've worked for two of 'em. Well actually, you've not put SEGA Racing Studio on there and Bigbig is 2012, not 2011 (just saying)
Jinfash
needs 2 extra inches
I'm still hurting over Ensemble's closure.
But looking at the full picture in the form of a list, is a real eye opener. You can't possibly imagine how hard the industry has been hit until you see this in one place. And I wonder whether it'll go through a worse period, or if the worst part is over. Recovery, if even possible, is gonna be a bitch.
RIP middle dev class.
But looking at the full picture in the form of a list, is a real eye opener. You can't possibly imagine how hard the industry has been hit until you see this in one place. And I wonder whether it'll go through a worse period, or if the worst part is over. Recovery, if even possible, is gonna be a bitch.
RIP middle dev class.
Typographenia
Member
The fact I had to scroll down for the entire list makes me sad. : (
If you're going to list ownership, (Microsoft) should be added to FASA and Ensemble.
Also missing Aces (Microsoft).
Also missing Aces (Microsoft).
Lots of great talent there. There should be a list of studios opened since 2006, just so we don't feel so depressed
That's really the silver lining here. Talent shifts from old studios to new ones to work on new projects, some go independent to work on personal projects and deliver new, original smaller games. But it certainly is depressing reading this list some people will eventually leave the industry altogether. Some IPs will be forever lost...
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Not officially dead, even though they're dead
Only made Sword and Poker, so no one noticed except me and Wario because no one plays excellent iOS games.
Much of this talent has been reconstituted in to social/portable gaming. I'd be more interested in knowing if there are more or less game development staff now than there was in 2006.
In other words, I can imagine that there are legitimately less people making games today, but I can also imagine that much of this is simply evidence of a slow migration away from consoles and towards other types of platforms.
In other words, I can imagine that there are legitimately less people making games today, but I can also imagine that much of this is simply evidence of a slow migration away from consoles and towards other types of platforms.
Hey, Atlus localized Monster Kingdom! No one bought it, but it counts! I'm pretty sure literally no one played Coded Soul though, not even in Japan, which is probably why they died. Lol.
Night_Trekker
Member
That's true. You'd think these Western studios would learn after so many studio shutterings, but...
Wow, they're pumping those out quickly. It makes me wonder if Granzella bought those spaces from Irem.
When discussing the Japanese market at large, I totally agree. It is much easier for the majority of lower-tier publishers and developers to stay alive with the usual low sales and staying at a lower tech level.
But let's not ignore the fact that climbing the tech ladder does impact several major Japanese developers (and their publishers). We're looking at reduced sales at the sales ceiling for each generation in Japan for all the major tech driven systems. The PSP has no million sellers other than the Monster Hunter Portable series. The PS3 has no million sellers other than FFXIII. Current Vita games are not even breaking 100k. Yet at the top end of the spectrum those games aren't costing less to make, but more.
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
Shouldn't more Midway studios be listed on here? Or just Midway in general?
Half of Midway studios were bought by Warner Bros. Midway Chicago (now NetherRealms), Surreal Software and Midway San Diego. The latter was since bought by THQ and I think they are working on the UFC games.
Hero of Legend
Member
Zoonami as well.
Shocked that KMM closed so quickly after becoming Krome's new home. What's left of Australia aside from the Fruit Ninja dev? Big Ant and Wicked Witch?
Shocked that KMM closed so quickly after becoming Krome's new home. What's left of Australia aside from the Fruit Ninja dev? Big Ant and Wicked Witch?
Some Midway Studios survived the implosion, like Midway Chicago. Oh, right, also Surreal Software got killed off by WB Games in 2010.
Q
Queen of Hunting
Unconfirmed Member
well the guys from iron lore are now Crate Entertainment who got the rights to keep there titan quest engine and are making so Grim Dawn so i guess thats positive
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Yeah, it's not uncommon that a traditional dev goes under and 4-5 splinter devs form from them.
Two examples:
GRiN -> Fatshark, Might and Delight, Trinity QA Studio, BitSquid engine
Ensemble -> Robot, Bonfire -> Zynga, Windstorm, Newtoy -> Zynga
eternaLightness
Member
Wow. I knew there were a lot of studios closed, but my goodness. That's pretty sad.
A list of closures without a list of openings or total companies in the industry means less than nothing. You can't even tell what percentage that is that closed, or how that compares to any other time in the history of the industry, or how that compares to other entertainment industries.
KMM Sydney is still going. KMM Brisbane was formed purely to pick up Happy Feet 2.
Krome is still doing something, though I don't know what or how big they actually are. They have been in a black box since late 2010.
Home Entertainment Suppliers is a Sydney based publisher that is propping up a bunch of the Australiasian industry with console sports titles (we've done some titles through them including Rugby Challenge most recently).
MMO tech company Big World is still going strong.
Firemint acquired Infinite Interactive, then got bought by EA. Iron Monkey got bought by EA. Rock You acquired 3 Blokes Studios.
Tantalus is still going with mobile and handheld stuff as usual I think. Torus is doing Leapster stuff mainly I think. Endgame Studios is ticking along.
Not sure what is happening with 2K and SEGA in Australia. There were some rumours of closures after finishing out the next couple of projects when THQ shut their stuff down, but I have no idea how valid those comments are and I don't know anyone in those studios.
Seraphinianus
Banned
it's all because of used game sales.
No, it was sold to Rebellion, became Rebellion Derby, and closed under that name. So technically it's there.
I wonder how long Zipper will last. While I don't want to see anyone out of a job, its not like zipper has been delivering their A game lately. MAG was ambitious but their success in delivering quality and compelling games has been low.
And sadly if they go down we will never see another socom game again. (then again that might be a good thing. The socom name would still be held in high regard if not for slant six's confrontation and zippers socom 4)
It would be interesting to see if they make it into playstations next generation.
And sadly if they go down we will never see another socom game again. (then again that might be a good thing. The socom name would still be held in high regard if not for slant six's confrontation and zippers socom 4)
It would be interesting to see if they make it into playstations next generation.
The Mana Legend
Banned
Key to success: Don't be owned by a major publisher.
Another one:
Pandemic -> Blendo Games (after checking this one, its foundation predates Pandemic demise. It was always a personal, one man project of Brendon Chung), Downsized Games, Seismic Games, Ntro (not really a game endeavour but a new social network project)
Augemitbutter
Member
thankfully not so many japanese studios. but hudson sure hurts.
AlphaTwo00
Member
While these are always nice to see, it's also goes the other way too: a company closes shop, and 5 splinter small indie startup happens, but it's highly doubtful that everyone gets back into these smaller groups either.
sixteen-bit
Member
best gen ever :/
Charoncaori
Member
Hudson hit me like a ton of bricks...
Was hudson getting eaten/repurposed a bigger deal in Japan? It'd almost be like SEGA being bought by capcom and only making facebook games, but I haven't seen the western community caring very much...
It also seemed to come out of freaking nowhere.
Was hudson getting eaten/repurposed a bigger deal in Japan? It'd almost be like SEGA being bought by capcom and only making facebook games, but I haven't seen the western community caring very much...
It also seemed to come out of freaking nowhere.
SolidSnakex
Member
But are those the types of games that need to sell a million in order for the publisher/developer to do well? I look at something like Yakuza. Those games have never sold a million units and the mainline titles usually sell around 500k. That may seem like a low number compared to other major titles, but that's been enough for Sega to allow them to create their own studio. I can't imagine them doing that unless the sales were at a point where they're making a decent profit on the titles. You also have the Tales titles. I remember people saying that Xillia looked like a HD Wii title. And some even speculated that it was originally a Wii game that was turned into a PS3 title. So if it was a Wii title then that means that they managed to cut back on costs while creating the third best selling game in the franchise.
It just really doesn't seem like Japanese developers bet big on games that aren't surefire big sellers. Square's obviously going to put a lot of money into FF, DQ and KH because they know that they're going to sell millions. They took a shot at putting a large chunk of money into an unproven IP (TLR) earlier this gen, but it seems like they've backed off from doing that since then. Capcom has really been the only company that gambles a lot with unproven games and big budgets. They've done that with Dead Rising, Lost Planet and they're currently betting big on Dragon's Dogma. But they really seem to be the only one that's constantly willing to take that gamble.