It's important to point out that this is actually part of an ongoing process that people didn't really complain about until it started hitting studios they personally enjoyed.
When the shovelware started getting culled from consoles, very few complained. Less trouble separating the wheat from the chaff.
When the B titles started getting culled, people lamented a bit but chalked it up to survival of the fittest.
Then AA developers like Insomniac or Silicon Knights started feeling the crunch, and the laments got louder but again survival of the fittest was a common refrain.
Now the AAA developers are beginning to fall, and the laments will likely hit a crescendo. I will only state that this is a consequence of the relentless, constant demand for higher and higher production values from bother gamers and publishers alike. Within a few years, only a small handful of games will able to keep up with the AAA Joneses.
I need a job.
I need a job.
Why don't they start their own dev team?
Infinite didn't sell as well as they hoped? It sold over 4 million units. How much did they expect it to sell?
Feels bad man.
Maybe it's time for devs and publishers to realize that we need to return to midtier development?
I need a job.
Rockstar released a game/year for the last couple of years that are multi-million sellers, Borderlands/DLC and NBA2K are also multi-million sellers. How is T2 not profitable?
Rockstar released a game/year for the last couple of years that are multi-million sellers, Borderlands/DLC and NBA2K are also multi-million sellers. How is T2 not profitable?
Infinite didn't sell as well as they hoped? It sold over 4 million units. How much did they expect it to sell?
It's a shame that the studio that created BioShock 2 is closed as well.
why is everyone saying ken levine is shutting down the studio
i dont think it quite works that way
take two owns them. i dont think ken can just shut it down and fire everyone cuz he feels like it. he doesn't own the company
God only knows how this happened
Sucks about the lost jobs.I hope Shawn Elliot lands somewhere where he can shine.
The combat-heavy Infinite always seemed like something he'd dislike back in his GFW days.
- I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers
- Ill be starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two
- parting ways with all but about fifteen members of the Irrational team
- new goal: To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable.
- To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.
See, that is the problem.Is 2K the new Square Enix with it's irrational (ha) sales expectations?!
At least many of the surviving Japanese studios seem reasonably smart with money, probably because the mid tier and lower mid tier developers still exist. Most western development seems to be AAA or indie so when shit goes down it'll be outright apocalyptic.It's the same basic pattern as occurred in the Japanese market in the late '90s, and that STILL hasn't recovered (unless you count mobile IAP).
That's kind d of the problem, yeah. It's not so much 2K caught the SE crazy where they go "we need more CT port sales to justify a new Chrono game!" after selling several hundred thousand, it's a game that finally exited development hell and they can just HOPE for a decent return at this point.See, that is the problem.
The expectations may be unrealistic, but they are what a game that costs that much needs to sell.