Kazuma Kiryu
Member
damn, UK teams are taking some heavy hits lately. here's hoping these can guys can move on something else.
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Sony closes & restructures two UK studios (BigBig shut down, Cambridge restructured)
- Thread starter DemonNite
- Start date
Yep, those too. They were pretty damn good at what they did. And now, they're working on Killzone spin offs. What a world.
DiscoJer
Member
Really? It's not like Sony was exactly known for supporting the PSP well. Axing one of its dedicated portable developers is hard to see as a good sign...
I realize, most of their games weren't widely known, but is that a problem with the studio, or Sony's craptastic marketing of anything PSP related?
Ah, for fucks sake
Didn't BigBig do Motorstorm: AE? (also known as the second best portable racer of all time).
Gutted. This gen has totally destroyed us here in the UK.
This gen has been a disaster for a lot of people in general (specially for Sony), not just UK....
Its a shame really :C
BS! A lot of the best PSP games were SCE games.
They have a lot of "2nd party studios" working on VITA games.
These two studios here were expendable, as it seems.
They still have a lot of 1st AND 2nd party studios.
This!
I still can't believe SCEA is still supporting them.
Cambridge has great tech guys and they made awesome game engines.
See Primal and Ghost Hunter on the PS2.
Zipper always made the worst looking games on the Playstation systems.
(Time to switch "Zipper Interactive" with "Ready at Dawn Studio")
By my calculations that puts it at over 30 UK studios closed since 2008
Bloody hell. All the more reason to support Introversion as and when I can!
a Master Ninja
Member
This makes Sony's "First Edition" bundle seem ever weirder to me.
This makes Sony's "First Edition" bundle seem ever weirder to me.
Maybe they figure it's the only way they can get anyone to buy Little Deviants.
AlphaTwo00
Member
Good luck to those affected, hopefully this is just the rare occurrence and not continuing the trend of continued downsize from 2011.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
Sony has 2 western portable studios. Bend and BigBig. Sony needs more portable studios not less. And no BigBig were not expendable at all.
No. Zipper made the best FPS this gen. At least the best FPS Sony have made this gen.
StealthGoblin
Banned
Was inevitable really after the UK tax cut for developers was scrapped. We'll likely see more of this and see more movement towards France and Canada from publishers.
In addition to this, the entire UK studio portfolio has been badly managed by Sony. Liverpool, Cambridge and London are all shadows of their former selves.
Awful.
In addition to this, the entire UK studio portfolio has been badly managed by Sony. Liverpool, Cambridge and London are all shadows of their former selves.
Awful.
Reviews don't make it out to be so terrible.
Especially Eurogamers 7/10.
Some people like minigames.
Reviews don't make it out to be so terrible.
Especially Eurogamers 7/10.
Some people like minigames.
That's good to hear. Although it still seems like a lot of people will view it as something that should have been DD only. And it will struggle as a retail title as a result.
Reluctant-Hero
Member
This thread is making me want to pick up a First Edition Vita kit instead of the 3G model.
famousmortimer
Banned
Sad about Big Big and it's also making me have doubts about the early edition bundle. Is LD garbage?
Cambridge was coming. Sad to see people get fired, but it's not surprising.
People hating on Zipper need to chill out. I understand that Socom 2 fanboys (which I count myself as) aren't particularly thrilled with Socom 4, but Socom 4 *IS* a good game if you can take the blinders off. And as far as I'm concerned MAG is the best shooter this gen. It's far too hardcore for the masses and was never going to be a huge seller, but goddamn is it deep and fun.
As for Zipper always made the worst looking games on the Playstation systems.
True of socom 1-3 and MAG, not true of Socom 4... which looks better than any console shooter this side of Crysis 2. 32 players and looks better than BF3. Other devs could learn from this game. Also, move support *high fives TTP*
Cambridge was coming. Sad to see people get fired, but it's not surprising.
People hating on Zipper need to chill out. I understand that Socom 2 fanboys (which I count myself as) aren't particularly thrilled with Socom 4, but Socom 4 *IS* a good game if you can take the blinders off. And as far as I'm concerned MAG is the best shooter this gen. It's far too hardcore for the masses and was never going to be a huge seller, but goddamn is it deep and fun.
As for Zipper always made the worst looking games on the Playstation systems.
True of socom 1-3 and MAG, not true of Socom 4... which looks better than any console shooter this side of Crysis 2. 32 players and looks better than BF3. Other devs could learn from this game. Also, move support *high fives TTP*
I'm not even angry, just really disappointed. BigBig was a great studio who made some great games. They didn't deserve this, especially since Sony downsized the studio in 2010 to the point where they could only work on a single project at a time.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
From what I played at the Eurogamer Expo, yes.
GitarooMan
Member
Too bad they didn't get a chance to make another Medievil, those were great.
Sony don't like the cold
I thought the UK stopped with tax breaks. Canada, however, still welcomes videogame developers. Or least, that's what here in regards to how Silicon Knights still exists.
StealthGoblin
Banned
Looks to me like Shu has decided that the UK studio output is not worth the amount of investment. Since he started his watch he cancelled Team SOHO's 'core' PS3 titles, scrapped an ambitious Cambridge new IP, downsized Studio Liverpool and merged its management with that of Evolution Studios and closed down BigBig. The only studio not to suffer at this point is Media Molecule, who have had a lot of investment.
I'd say that Arctic Edge is easily in the running of the best Motorstorm game (better than 2 and 3 to be sure). It's a real shame that BigBig was shut down, but hopefully they're getting rolled into Evolution as much as possible.
It's also a shame that Cambridge is now seemingly a satellite studio for Guerilla (but also other big first party outputs). Not that such a move is much more than publicly admitting what has been the case for years now. Cambridge has been a dedicated (and crucial) support studio for Sony for years.
But what's surprising about that, is that they did an awesome job on LBP PSP, and we'll likely see a repeat with their Killzone Vita game. I don't know if this means that them producing their own releases is completely dead, but it sounds like they won't be doing anything else besides Killzone support/titles and helping the other studios from here on out.
Really a shame. As much as I liked/loved Liberation and Killzone 2, the franchise isn't worth that much focus anymore following Killzone 3, not that I'm not interested in the Vita game.
Big Big doesn't deserve to be shut down, as they are a quality top notch dev, the problem for them, and evolution, is that they're very good at a genre no one cares about, and Motorstorm RC will probably flop as well.
Didn't the head of Evolution say that he was worried the studio would be shut down after the dismal failure of Motorstorm 3 (they blamed it on worldwide events, I disagree), I guess BigBig felt the fallout instead.
So here's a question who here feels that what Shu is doing will ultimately result in a leaner but more effective and focused SCEE, or is he shitting the bed and why?
get2sammyb
Member
You're right and you're wrong. They signed exclusivity contracts with Novarama and Double Eleven that will cover the slack for BigBig's closure. But I agree with the sentiment that they need more portable studios than less. More games is always better.
The only industry the tories care about is the financial sector. creative industries? Pffhhhh!
BoilersFan23
Member
The demo I played at a mall was super fun.
This is depressing
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Well it's not like Labour gave much of a shit either, despite heavy and continous lobbying by TIGA.
The most prominent and vocal anti-videogames MP happens to be Labour too.
It's also known that at least one global games publisher has been lobbying extensively against UK tax breaks, but no-ones sure which (although a lot of people suspect Ubisoft as EA and Activision both have more of a vested interest in cheaper UK production costs) which doesn't exactly help when industry leaders in our own field are telling the Government not to give tax breaks.
Check the other (2nd party) studios which are under SCE's contract to develope VITA games.
There are a lot. (don't make me name all these studios now)
They made the most "uninteresting" looking games of this gen. Nobody cared about their games and they look boring. So just check the game sales.
You thought Killzone and Resistance were generic and boring looking? Check Zipper Int.'s game out :-/
They are not capable of making an "AAA" looking game. Hell they have all the tech of the (PS3) world and look how their games are looking....
Really? :-/
It's sad for Cambridge, imo.
But I saw that coming.
Polyphony Digital got a second studio.
Naughty Dog got a second team.
Guerilla games got a second team.
-> they had to trim the fat, as it seems :-/
Good time for MS to open up another studio in the UK.
Holy fuck.
By my calculations that puts it at over 30 UK studios closed since 2008
Holy fuck.
There's a reason why studios are getting closed, not opened in the UK.
AgentChris
Member
I hope everyone affected lands on their feet soon. Seems like this is tax related? Head Canada devs.
MGS Soho, PlayGround Games, Ruffian and yes even Rare has various positions available. The same with Sega who opened a next-gen studio in the UK last year.
SeanNoonan
Member
He speaks the truth, right now Ruffian is looking for:[Nintex];34167877 said:
- Art Director
- Environment Artist
- Environment Artist
- Environment Artist
- Senior Online Engineer
- Senior Engineer
- Tester (short term contract)
It's a shame to see so many companies close - in an ideal world it's just bringing together a lot of the best talent and shedding the dead wood... it's not always the case though
If only I hadn't rented a place already with zero games industry presence.
Yet Team Ico and Polyphony are allowed to take all the time they want to make games, whilst the UK studios are closed.
So pissed off with the running(into the ground) of the UK studios.
test_account
XP-39C²
I'd say that it is unrealistic to expect much better graphics from MAG concidering that it is 256 players. I cant speak much about SOCOM 4 since i havnt seen or played much of that.
bigtroyjon
Member
Nobody better mention this thread over on the OT, you'll get burnt like a witch if you say that lower taxes impact job creation.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
Polyphony is only allowed that because they bring the big bucks to sony. I suspect Team ICO (with ueda leaving, and the other director or whatever already in another company) isn't gonna last much longer after they release TLG.