alfredofroylan
Member
Well it's this time of the year again, time to remember those studios and companies that closed this year and all the good (and bad) memories that we have of them and whishing a peaceful and hapy holiday season for all the talented and amazing people in this business.
Wizarbox
2003 2012
A small company from France, mostly known for their Risen ports and for some small point and click adventure games, some of them are actually quite good like Gray matter and So Blonde
Zynga Japan
2010 2013
The rise and fall of Zynga has been one of the most interesting things to watch this generation, sadly the layoffs and broken business model are nothing to laugh about and after years of struggling it seems that the problems for this company are far from over, 2 studios closed in 2 years and 13 games shutdown, but still lets remember happier times with articles like this.
Vigil Games
2005 January 2013
The success of Darksiders wasnt enough to keep this company afloat; they couldnt find a buyer and the franchise ended up with Australian developer Nordic Games and most of the team behind Vigil ended up with Retro or Battlecry studios
THQ
1989 January 2013
For most of us, the memories of THQ are mixed. During the 16-bit era games published by this company were mostly horrible; almost JLN level (Wheres Waldo and Ren & Stimpy for example) However things changed later with beloved titles like Company of Heroes, Red Faction, De Blob, Darksiders and yes the WWE titles. THQ was pretty much the definition of mid-range games, sadly we live in a time and era where that concept is pretty much dead. Bad decisions like releasing the same game for 2 systems 1 year later (uDraw) and pushing games into a super-saturated market (Homefront) just made things worse for them.
Bioware, San Francisco
2013
A subdivision of Bioware mostly devoted to social games like Dragon Age Legends and Mirrors Edge 2D.
Junction Point Studios
2005 2013
Founded by Warren Spector (of Wing Commander and Deus Ex fame) this studio promised a really nice and cool take on a classic (but tired) character; Mickey Mouse. The ideas were there but at the end they didnt work in the way they were expecting, after a disastrous sequel the studio was closed by Disney.
Blitz games
1990 2013
One of the oldest companies in this industry; most of their games were licensed based titles on movies (Like Puss on Boots) and cartoons/toys (Bratz) However Ill always remember this company for the greatness that was Sneak King.
Phenomic
1997 2013
Another casualty of EA, the team behind Spellforce and Lord of Ultima was disbanded, mostly because of the new EA focus in AAA titles. The company was also known for allegations of plagiarism in the title Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
Impossible Studios
2012 2013
Well is hard to talk about the accomplishments of this studio because there is none. Basically the team was formed by ex-members of Big Huge Games (the makers of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning) and were working on Infinity Blade Dungeons, for iOS. But after 6 months the studio was closed by Epic Games
Victory games
2010 2013
The studio was formed with the idea of continuing the Command & Conquer series in a Free to play model, after 2 years the alpha test was ready, sadly even at that state the title was horrible according to several testers, so EA ended closing the game and the developer at the same time.
LucasArts
1982 2013
Thiss probably the biggest lost we had this year, a studio with an amazing story, some of the most beloved titles in gaming history and such wasted potential, mostly because of lack of leadership and direction at the end. Founded by a young and energetic George Lucas the company started with innovative ideas like Rescue on Fractalus, later in 1986 they released their first adventure game Labyrinth, the next year Maniac Mansion was released and after that their adventure titles were a staple of quality Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones: The fate of Atlantis, The secret of Monkey Island also most of their action games were great Zombies ate my neighbors and Ghoul Patrol are still remembered as some of the best titles on the SNES. Ironically the franchise that bring fame (and money) to their founder was the same franchise that ended this studio, with the XXI century LucasArts started a slow and painful road into oblivion, titles developed by other companies like Kinect Star wars and Angry Birds: Star wars will be the last games with the company logo attached to them.
Blockbuster
1985 2013
Well not a game company, but many of our memories in the late 80s and early 90s were game rentals. Every weekend was almost like a ritual to go to the local video store, pick up a game and get some friends to play at home. The videogame scene is way too different right now and most of the things that made games (and video) rentals a huge success; are gone now.
Another studio with problems this year was "Gas Powered Games", they ended up with Wargaming.com and it seems that the IPs and most of the people working at the studio are fine now.
Wizarbox
2003 2012
A small company from France, mostly known for their Risen ports and for some small point and click adventure games, some of them are actually quite good like Gray matter and So Blonde
Zynga Japan
2010 2013
The rise and fall of Zynga has been one of the most interesting things to watch this generation, sadly the layoffs and broken business model are nothing to laugh about and after years of struggling it seems that the problems for this company are far from over, 2 studios closed in 2 years and 13 games shutdown, but still lets remember happier times with articles like this.
Vigil Games
2005 January 2013
The success of Darksiders wasnt enough to keep this company afloat; they couldnt find a buyer and the franchise ended up with Australian developer Nordic Games and most of the team behind Vigil ended up with Retro or Battlecry studios
THQ
1989 January 2013
For most of us, the memories of THQ are mixed. During the 16-bit era games published by this company were mostly horrible; almost JLN level (Wheres Waldo and Ren & Stimpy for example) However things changed later with beloved titles like Company of Heroes, Red Faction, De Blob, Darksiders and yes the WWE titles. THQ was pretty much the definition of mid-range games, sadly we live in a time and era where that concept is pretty much dead. Bad decisions like releasing the same game for 2 systems 1 year later (uDraw) and pushing games into a super-saturated market (Homefront) just made things worse for them.
Bioware, San Francisco
2013
A subdivision of Bioware mostly devoted to social games like Dragon Age Legends and Mirrors Edge 2D.
Junction Point Studios
2005 2013
Founded by Warren Spector (of Wing Commander and Deus Ex fame) this studio promised a really nice and cool take on a classic (but tired) character; Mickey Mouse. The ideas were there but at the end they didnt work in the way they were expecting, after a disastrous sequel the studio was closed by Disney.
Blitz games
1990 2013
One of the oldest companies in this industry; most of their games were licensed based titles on movies (Like Puss on Boots) and cartoons/toys (Bratz) However Ill always remember this company for the greatness that was Sneak King.
Phenomic
1997 2013
Another casualty of EA, the team behind Spellforce and Lord of Ultima was disbanded, mostly because of the new EA focus in AAA titles. The company was also known for allegations of plagiarism in the title Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
Impossible Studios
2012 2013
Well is hard to talk about the accomplishments of this studio because there is none. Basically the team was formed by ex-members of Big Huge Games (the makers of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning) and were working on Infinity Blade Dungeons, for iOS. But after 6 months the studio was closed by Epic Games
Victory games
2010 2013
The studio was formed with the idea of continuing the Command & Conquer series in a Free to play model, after 2 years the alpha test was ready, sadly even at that state the title was horrible according to several testers, so EA ended closing the game and the developer at the same time.
LucasArts
1982 2013
Thiss probably the biggest lost we had this year, a studio with an amazing story, some of the most beloved titles in gaming history and such wasted potential, mostly because of lack of leadership and direction at the end. Founded by a young and energetic George Lucas the company started with innovative ideas like Rescue on Fractalus, later in 1986 they released their first adventure game Labyrinth, the next year Maniac Mansion was released and after that their adventure titles were a staple of quality Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones: The fate of Atlantis, The secret of Monkey Island also most of their action games were great Zombies ate my neighbors and Ghoul Patrol are still remembered as some of the best titles on the SNES. Ironically the franchise that bring fame (and money) to their founder was the same franchise that ended this studio, with the XXI century LucasArts started a slow and painful road into oblivion, titles developed by other companies like Kinect Star wars and Angry Birds: Star wars will be the last games with the company logo attached to them.
Blockbuster
1985 2013
Well not a game company, but many of our memories in the late 80s and early 90s were game rentals. Every weekend was almost like a ritual to go to the local video store, pick up a game and get some friends to play at home. The videogame scene is way too different right now and most of the things that made games (and video) rentals a huge success; are gone now.
Another studio with problems this year was "Gas Powered Games", they ended up with Wargaming.com and it seems that the IPs and most of the people working at the studio are fine now.