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[Shambles]

I think Ascaron closed since 2006 as well

 

[entremet]

Broken model obviously. Not really sustainable unless you're an Epic, R*, etc., which huge marketing budgets.

 

[Atomski]

I know this is kinda not with the topic but Im curious how many studios have been created since 2006 including smaller ones.

 

[Slavik81]

I'd love to see these plotted on a map.

 

[whitehawk]

You forgot Rare on that list.

Spoiler

I hate that Team Bondi released a fucking awesome game, and just gets canned. So tough.

 

[Kifimbo]

You forgot Rare on that list.

Spoiler

Oh it popped into my mind to include Rare. Just didn't want the thread to turn into a circlejerk.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Some good studios in there, but it's survival of the fittest. New ones will replace them.

Doesn't really depress me.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I hate that Team Bondi released a fucking awesome game, and just gets canned. So tough.

To be fair, that was just a really strange situation. There was a report that Rockstar was going to buy them and rename them Rockstar Sydney, but they couldn't tolerate working with Brendan and the rest of Team Bondi's management.

 

[duckroll]

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.

I'm not talking about stuff like Yakuza and Tales which never sold a million to begin with. I'm talking about stuff like GT, FF, KH, MGS, and various stuff from Capcom/Square Enix/Konami/Namco Bandai/Sega.

I wouldn't say that Square Enix has really backed off from doing it either. They have a brand new action RPG on UE3 which they're hiring extensively for, which is meant to be a big worldwide game. They're also investing heavily on their brand new next-generation internal engine, which indicates that they're following in Capcom's footsteps. Let's not forget that Versus isn't even out yet, and FFXIII-2 failed to sell even a million in Japan.

Sega has Binary Domain coming up, which is something they really want to push internationally to sell over a million. They're expecting Bayonetta-level success there, after having failed massively with Vanquish. If they were content on recycling Yakuza year after year, they wouldn't have taken on a project like Binary Domain. This indicates that they do want to push for larger titles which can do well on a bigger scale.

MGS is in a total clusterfuck position now. Considering it's one of the only franchises supporting Konami in consumer games sales, the last few releases certainly haven't been peachy at all. I don't think it's realistic to ignore all that's going on and say that it's not affecting Japan at all. It definitely is, just on a different scale.

The big players in Japan have high operating costs, and even if selling 500k might be enough to make a single project like Yakuza profitable, there is always a question of whether just being profitable for that project is enough to offset the other losses they make from the tons of other titles Sega releases which might not have broken even at all. That is why big publishers need solid dependable franchises which can sell millions, so they can always fall back on that even if somehow during a year nothing else makes money.

 

[Criminal Upper]

I expect that list to triple next gen.

Graphics/budgets do not need to accelerate.

 

[Nirolak]

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

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.

I'd like to note that while Western developers don't make handheld titles, they do make downloadable, iOS, social, and free 2 play titles.

I would argue this has taken the same place that handheld games have in Japan in terms of developers with low sales but high survivability (though obviously Japan has some of those other categories as well).

It's hard to go a week without hearing about a new mobile/social/downloadable studio popping up from developers who used to be in a console games company, and we hear about very few of those ever shutting down.

 

[AdventureRacing]

I expect that list to triple next gen.

Graphics/budgets do not need to accelerate.

That's the big question for me next gen, can developers and console maufacturers find a way to reduce the amount of budget inflation. Because if it goes up anything like this gen, a lot of devs are going under and most won't be able to compete.

 

[Insane Metal]

Damn... this generation sure costed many studios' lives.

 

[Nirolak]

Oh, Bright Light also closed.

 

[Kifimbo]

Oh, Bright Light also closed.

It's there (EA Bright Light).

Anyway, I'm gonna updated the OP tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far.

I might also do a similar thread but with new studios from 2006-2012. It's probably gonna be harder and I'm not gonna bother with most iOS/Android-exclusive studios.

 

[beelzebozo]

NO CLICHE, developer of TOY COMMANDER on dreamcast, was 2004. i guess that's too early, but i love that game, so i thought i'd mention how sad it is for me.

 

[thcsquad]

That's the big question for me next gen, can developers and console maufacturers find a way to reduce the amount of budget inflation. Because if it goes up anything like this gen, a lot of devs are going under and most won't be able to compete.

Most of it is from the jump to HD, which requires the art to have a lot more detail. Unless the next consoles have another big resolution boost, I wouldn't be too worried.

 

[scitek]

I thought it'd be a lot.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

I thought team bondi had a huge success with LA NOIRE.

Also, these closing aren't as bad as everyone makes them out to be. How about someone do the same for 2000-2006? see how many closed also.

 

[Tron 2.0]

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.

If I had to guess, I would say that there are probably more people working in video game development now than ever before in history.

I thought team bondi had a huge success with LA NOIRE.

There are a lot of devs on that list that had great successes.

 

[mr stroke]

I expect that list to triple next gen.

Graphics/budgets do not need to accelerate.

What kind of thinking is this?



Graphics and budgets should not improve because studios are closing? No thank you. Survival of the fittest.

 

[AlphaTwo00]

I know this is kinda not with the topic but Im curious how many studios have been created since 2006 including smaller ones.

Define small. When Bizarre was gone, there were news of a few new small groups that popped up. But when you're dealing with places that are 1-2 man teams, then what happened to the remaining staff?

 

[TTG]

Too bad about Bizarre, I bought/played the hell out of all the PGR games going back to Metropolis Street Racer. Great racing games.

 

[Hypereides]

Sucha depressing thread

 

[Big-ass Ramp]

oh my god this thread makes me want to cry

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

List is also missing Seta and Nihon Telenet.

 

[beelzebozo]

scroll, click, NEW THREAD: is this a gaming golden age??????

 

[pieatorium]

I thought team bondi had a huge success with LA NOIRE.

Also, these closing aren't as bad as everyone makes them out to be. How about someone do the same for 2000-2006? see how many closed also.

If it wasn't Duke Nukem Forever light as far as developement time it might have been, what was it 7 years or something?

 

[Terrell]

What kind of thinking is this?



Graphics and budgets should not improve because studios are closing? No thank you. Survival of the fittest.

Budget inflation is a SERIOUS problem. And "survival of the fittest" doesn't look so good anymore when even some really talented awesome developers YOU like hit the skids because even they can't afford to keep going. Not to mention the increased risk to publishers, who control pretty much every gaming IP imaginable. We talk a lot about developers, but next gen might see the death of a major publisher, and all the IPs that go out with them. Still gonna champion for "survival of the fittest" then?

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

These kind of closings don't bother me so long as the industry is growing overall and the quality talent finds work elsewhere in the industry. These kind of things can lead to something better.

If the overall number of people employed to make games drops in the industry and the good talent flees for good then it becomes a bad thing.

 

[Brashnir]

Define small. When Bizarre was gone, there were news of a few new small groups that popped up. But when you're dealing with places that are 1-2 man teams, then what happened to the remaining staff?

In addition to small teams sprouting up to make indie games, there's also been a lot of studios which have grown a lot over the past few years.

While I don't know the inner workings of a studio like Rocksteady, I can't imagine that Batman: Arkham City was made by the same team as Urban Chaos without adding some manpower. And incidentally, even though Urban Chaos was a PS2 game, it came out in 2006, so Rocksteady is a studio that didn't release any games before the current gen started, and are now a bona-fide AAA development house.

 

[chixdiggit]

What a sad list. Who owns Bomberman now?

 

[Ravidrath]

I think this would be interesting if it also had a list of new studios.

There would definitely be some that started and closed within that period, like Killspace.

Also, I thought Ignition Florida moved to Austin? That may count as a closure and a reopening, though.

 

[Buddha Beam]

Clover Studios (Capcom) - 2006

Saddest one on the list. Platinum hasn't come close to matching Clover's brilliance either.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

What kind of thinking is this?



Graphics and budgets should not improve because studios are closing? No thank you. Survival of the fittest.

No, they shouldn't.

Everyone doesn't drive a Ferrari to work do they?

Not every game needs to be a 40 million seller with bump mapped nipple hair.

Now with the Wii / Indie / Social gaming renascence during this generation, the business men running the game industry into the ground can hopefully learn from it.

 

[twentytwo22]

What a sad list. Who owns Bomberman now?

Hudson Entertainment, the US arm of Hudson Soft (JP), closed. Hudson Soft is now owned by Konami, but still functions as Hudson in Japan. So, still Hudson, but also Konami.

 

[pieatorium]

No, they shouldn't.

Everyone doesn't drive a Ferrari to work do they?

Not every game needs to be a 40 million seller with bump mapped nipple hair.

I agree that not every game needs to be be a big budget game but those games should exist and as an extension of that graphics and budgets may need to rise to meet the expectations of people who buy them. Blanket statements in either direction are pointless and stupid.

 

[Opiate]

What kind of thinking is this?



Graphics and budgets should not improve because studios are closing? No thank you. Survival of the fittest.

The problem is that it's survival of the biggest. I'm quite confident that there are many developers who have better ideas and/or more talent than, say, most EA developers have. But there's a problem: the first step in competing with EA is 1) Have 50 Million dollars to invest, develop, and market a game. The number of studios which have this at their disposal is very low.

This is why most creative markets with extremely high budgets (like console games, but also like movies) are also noted for creative stagnation. There's little reason for EA/Activision/Etc. to innovate when they only realistically have about 5 other competitors. Even very large companies like THQ cannot consistently compete, let alone anyone smaller.

So it really depends on what you consider to be the most important: innovation and creativity, or high production values? Because those two qualities are directly at odds in virtually every medium.

 

[charsace]

FASA : ( I want 343i/Certain Affinity to resurrect the rumored 5 nearly finished maps Shadowrun had and release them to download, I'd pay so much money for those.

I'd be willing to spend $100 on the new maps and the rumored character additions.

 

[beat]

It's not much different than any other industry. If you are spending millions of dollars and releasing flops, you cannot stay expect to stay around much longer.

Hollywood releases tons of flops. The hits pay for nearly everything. People sometimes suggest that game revenue tops box office, which is astoundingly short-sighted. Hollywood has so many revenue streams for their product. Theater box office, DVDs, pay-per-view, pay cable, airplane viewing, hotel pay per view -- and that's just for the actual product. Throw in product placement, arcane tax manipulation that would put Quebec-located game studios to shame, licensed merchandising...

Key to success: Don't be owned by a major publisher.

Hah! Yes, though for the founders of studios that were acquired by the major publishers, the acquisition is probably a gigantic success.

I hate that Team Bondi released a fucking awesome game, and just gets canned. So tough.

Even Rockstar's not going to put up with a dev studio culture that dysfunctional.

I know this is kinda not with the topic but Im curious how many studios have been created since 2006 including smaller ones.

And then back on the first hand, we should tally up the number of downsized developers too. A studio that doesn't close, but goes from 400 to 100 people (Radical, for example) has lost a lot of people.

But then Brashnir is right: we should also also count studios that have grown significantly in size.

 

[AniHawk]

Saddest one on the list. Platinum hasn't come close to matching Clover's brilliance either.

except for the times when they surpassed it like with infinite space, madworld, vanquish, and bayonetta.

 

[VASPER]

FASA : ( I want 343i/Certain Affinity to resurrect the rumored 5 nearly finished maps Shadowrun had and release them to download, I'd pay so much money for those.

Wow if that still had a community i would play the hell out of that game but as it stands its pretty weak. Game was so good, i miss Fasa.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Pretty grim. For comparison, does anyone have a consolidated list of studios that closed between, say, 1993 and 2006?

 

[cuyahoga]

You forgot Loose Cannon Studios, founded by a few Sucker Punch vets including the creator of Sly Cooper. Shuttered after Konami more or less refused to pay them for the game LCS completed and shipped. Seems like they also ensured Day 1's demise last month.

Also: Sierra Seattle/Online shuttered after Axedivision. And Ubisoft closed its Brazil studios in Sao Paolo and Porto Alegre in late 2010.

And Frog City and PopTop "merged" with Firaxis in 2006. SideCar Studios—formed by a few former Frog City folks, were working on a XBLA/PSN Incredible Machine reboot—closed in late 2006 or early 2007. Other XBLA casualties: Atomic Elbow, Carbonated Games, CrunchTime Games and Games Distillery.

 

[malfcn]

boggling that Silicon Knights isn't on this list.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I wouldn't say that Square Enix has really backed off from doing it either. They have a brand new action RPG on UE3 which they're hiring extensively for, which is meant to be a big worldwide game. They're also investing heavily on their brand new next-generation internal engine, which indicates that they're following in Capcom's footsteps. Let's not forget that Versus isn't even out yet, and FFXIII-2 failed to sell even a million in Japan.

I still think that Versus could do really well for them. I expect it to be retitled at some point (especially after XIII-2's performance), but it looks fantastic and seems to have many of the things that FF fans have wanted in the mainline games. Hopefully the info flow will start up now that it's currently the only big FF title announced.

The new UE3 ARPG is obviously a risk. It's hard to say how that might turn out since we know next to nothing about it. But I remember them having problems with UE3 when developing TLR, so hopefully they're over that issue and the development goes smoother. That would certainly help them out a lot. That would also mean that it would be released on every platform that they initially intended it to be released on.

Sega has Binary Domain coming up, which is something they really want to push internationally to sell over a million. They're expecting Bayonetta-level success there, after having failed massively with Vanquish. If they were content on recycling Yakuza year after year, they wouldn't have taken on a project like Binary Domain. This indicates that they do want to push for larger titles which can do well on a bigger scale.

If all they're expecting is Bayonetta numbers then I think that they'll probably be happy. It seems like more and more people are showing interest in that game as Sega releases new trailer. A quality demo could seal the deal for even more people. But that could also backfire and turn people away if the game isn't up to the standard that they expected. I think that they'll bite the bullet and do it. All of the games fro the Yakuza team have received demos this gen.

MGS is in a total clusterfuck position now. Considering it's one of the only franchises supporting Konami in consumer games sales, the last few releases certainly haven't been peachy at all. I don't think it's realistic to ignore all that's going on and say that it's not affecting Japan at all. It definitely is, just on a different scale.

I don't agree at all with MGS being a clusterfuck. I think only one MGS title (MGS4) this gen has had a chance to put up big numbers, and it did. Peace Walker was doomed the second that they announced that it was a PSP title.

Rising is next up to bat. It doesn't have the "Solid" name in the title, but I don't think that anyone doubts that it'll be a high quality game. The big question is whether or not MG fans will be interested in a pure action title with the series branding on it. If they only managed to get half of the series fanbase that would be pretty good. It would put it in God of War territory in terms of sales. It's the only current action title that puts up those types of numbers.

The big players in Japan have high operating costs, and even if selling 500k might be enough to make a single project like Yakuza profitable, there is always a question of whether just being profitable for that project is enough to offset the other losses they make from the tons of other titles Sega releases which might not have broken even at all. That is why big publishers need solid dependable franchises which can sell millions, so they can always fall back on that even if somehow during a year nothing else makes money.

All i'm really saying is that it seems like the model in Japan is a lot more stable than the model in the West. This is largely because they can balance the low and mid-range titles with the larger budget titles. I think that's where the big difference is (along with the handheld example that I gave earlier). That market really doesn't seem to exist in the West, and that ends up forcing those developers to bet big or go home. So you see THQ pumping 35-50m into Homefront just so it can be mentioned in the same breath as Battlefield and Call of Duty.

Some publishers/devs just need to accept or realize that they don't need to compete with Uncharted, Call of Duty, Gears etc. in terms of budget. And the gaming media actually needs to support those developers by giving their games coverage. You see Japanese sites/mags giving a lot of attention to titles that have small budgets (like Nippon Ichi or Gust titles) and that obviously helps them in the long run.

 

[AlphaTwo00]

boggling that Silicon Knights isn't on this list.

If you include studios with major layoffs and/or major course correction, you would be surprised who else is on it.

 

[jamesinclair]

I still cant wrap my head around some of those studious closing, like Ensemble.

I think the worst are the Activision ones.

1) Buy studio with rich history
2) Ask them to developer bad sequels
3) Shut down

WHERES THE PROFIT???

 

[SomeOneInaHat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38wx8C7VmB4

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

So many casualties. Amazing.

Thank you to the OP for making this list.