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[orioto]

Just heard via CGtalk and confirmed with a someone i know that GRIN has axed 160 jobs across thier studios in Stockholm, Barcelona and Gothenburg... apparently due to bad sales of Wanted and their latests Terminator game, guess thats what happens when you expand the bubble so much!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=59&t=768094

 

[CrunchinJelly]

FROWN

 

[Piano]

That's what happens when you price a 2 hour game at $60.

 

[GitarooMan]

Not surprising, they seemed to be pumping out projects so fast their staff must have ballooned, and now they have to let the air out.

*insert joke/comment/statement about 3 hour games*

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Wanat'cha going to do about it?

 

[Y2Kev]

Impossible...Wanted sold 6-8 million in the US alone.

 

[dreamer3kx]

That's what happens when you price a 2 hour game at $60.

Are you exaggerating? Two hours?!

 

[Aselith]

Sucks that all those people lost their jobs. I hope you GRIN folks land on your feet.

Impossible...Wanted sold 6-8 million in the US alone.

No way.

 

[GK86]

Are you exaggerating? Two hours?!

Wanted was about 4 hours. And from what I read, Terminator could be beat in 2-4 hours as well.

 

[B-Ri]

there is an achievement/trophy for beating the game in an an hour and twelve minutes if im not mistaken.

 

[Pein]

I hope bionic commando does well for them

 

[fizzelopeguss]

They went from PC GRAW to making...shit loads.

 

[Yes Boss!]

That's a bummer...but it seems like Bionic Commando is not gonna fair so well either. Loved Rearmed, though.

 

[Haunted]

:/ it's always bad when people lose their job, just talked to a friend about this last week and we were citing Crytek and GRIN as one of very few independent dev studios who managed to really expand recently, opening new studios and everything.


Then again, Wanted was a pretty fucking terrible game - that fact coupled with a B-tier license makes it easy to imagine bad sales. Terminator doesn't look much better (didn't even know it's out already), even though the license is bigger.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Are you exaggerating? Two hours?!

wanted is 4-5 hours and can be finished in 1 (there is an achievement that rewards you for doing this). it has very limited replay value (two "challenge modes")

terminator is 4-5 hours and has no replay value at all. there is literally no reason to play it again, you can get 100% of the achievements in that 4 hours and see everything the game has to offer.

 

[Guled]

they were working on 3 big game at once, so after they came out wouldn't people be let go since there is not much to work on? Also, dose this mean BC is doing well?

 

[web01]

Quality > Quantity

 

[Grecco]

Poor Pete Wanat!

 

[MirageDwarf]

Sucks for those who lost their jobs but expected when you waste resources to develop shitty movie tie-in games.

 

[rbenchley]

Impossible...Wanted sold 6-8 million in the US alone.

There was an article in the LA Times last week mentioning that Wanted has only sold around 100,000 copies: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/05/movies-may-be-booming-but-video-games-based-on-them-are-not.html

 

[CO_Andy]

Solution: Strider Rearmed

 

[Cat in the Hat]

Quality > Quantity

When a 3 hour game get repetitive I wouldn't exactly call it quality. Shit would be more fitting of a word.

 

[mrbagdt]

There was an article in the LA Times last week mentioning that Wanted has only sold around 100,000 copies: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/05/movies-may-be-booming-but-video-games-based-on-them-are-not.html

The sad part is, if they would have priced their games at $30, they probably would have been waaay better off.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Quality > Quantity

so it's your stance that the quality of wanted and terminator is so high that it makes up for the short play lengths and lack of replayability?

 

[wsippel]

There was an article in the LA Times last week mentioning that Wanted has only sold around 100,000 copies: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/05/movies-may-be-booming-but-video-games-based-on-them-are-not.html

So I guess Mad World outsold it. If people wouldn't be losing their jobs, this would actually be a bit funny.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I thought he was talking about the games, make fewer, but better titles.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Should do more capcom remakes. Megaman next, and add super awesome music like Bionic Rearmed.

Edit: 2d not like the new 3d bionic.

 

[web01]

When a 3 hour game get repetitive I wouldn't exactly call it quality. Shit would be more fitting of a word.

so it's your stance that the quality of wanted and terminator is so high that it makes up for the short play lengths and lack of replayability?

No No No
I mean that instead of pumping out so many shitty games they should focus on 1 game and make it good.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Quality > Quantity

I'm trying to figure out every possible interpretation of this.

Either you're saying

A) They released short games, but they were awesome while they lasted
B) They should focus on one game at a time rather than releasing three in rapidfire succession
C) The people who were fired suck and the remaining staff is the cream of the crop

A makes you look stupid, B I agree with, C kind of makes you look like a dick

 

[Timan]

Idea! Stop making movie games.

 

[consoul]

GRIN axes 160 jobs due to poor salesquality of Terminator and Wanted

.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Bionic Commando Rearmed was awesome -- neither of those games interest / interested me though. I'm probably going to pick up BC despite not being too impressed with the Edge review etc.

 

[Barrett2]

Full priced four hour games with little replay value is unnacceptable. But sucks for those affected.

 

[Dante]

3 sub par games in the span of a year will do that to ya.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

On a recent Giant Bombcast some folks from GRIN mentioned that they had a few projects still in the pipeline even after their recent releases. Maybe the poor sales of Wanted/T4 scared the publishers of those projects away?

Sucks to see any studio shed jobs, though.

 

[Y2Kev]

There was an article in the LA Times last week mentioning that Wanted has only sold around 100,000 copies: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/05/movies-may-be-booming-but-video-games-based-on-them-are-not.html

Why is the LA Times spreading lies about Pete Wanat's great opus? Liberal media...

 

[SolidSnakex]

These guys seem much better off without worrying about licenses. Rearmed is a great game, and at the very least BC is a good game. They just seem to run into trouble when dealing with licensed properties.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Wikipeida says the studio only employed 230, so 160 is a rather large percentage to chop!

 

[chun li's thighs]

Not surprising, they seemed to be pumping out projects so fast their staff must have ballooned, and now they have to let the air out.

*insert joke/comment/statement about 3 hour games*

QFT

 

[mik]

Full price and four hours could almost be excused if they weren't four hours of abject frustration at a buggy, glitchy, freezing pile of horseshit like Terminator.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

so it's your stance that the quality of wanted and terminator is so high that it makes up for the short play lengths and lack of replayability?

I think it's pretty clear he's saying better to release one fully conceived game than 3 half-baked ones.

 

[MMaRsu]

Dont make licensed games.... They hardly ever work.

Grin did an awesome job on BC:R so I know they got some skills.

 

[Zen]

That's too bad for those involved. Hopefully they land on their feet and GRIN will bounce back (or at least survive). I'm going to be picking up Bionic Comando and already got Rearmed. I heard that the Terminator game was actually a decent amount of fun while it lasted, but I found Wanted to be unplayable.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

There was an article in the LA Times last week mentioning that Wanted has only sold around 100,000 copies: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/05/movies-may-be-booming-but-video-games-based-on-them-are-not.html

More or less than Madworld?

 

[Kusagari]

Licensed games for the fail.

 

[Haunted]

I think it's pretty clear he's saying better to release one fully conceived game than 3 half-baked ones.

I'm not sure how you would go about developing one game across three different development studios located all over Europe.

 

[Opiate]

Bad news. Sorry for those laid off.

 

[Linkup]

So I guess Mad World outsold it. If people wouldn't be losing their jobs, this would actually be a bit funny.

At least a few of the guys that made Madworld had already lost their jobs before back at Capcom, heck they may lose them again.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Licensed games for the fail.

Not even this, it's Licensed games for bad movies. If you're gonna get a license, get something worthwhile.

It sucks that it looks like people are losing jobs due to poor business decisions made by management.

 

[Kaako]

As much as I fucking hate license games, I still feel for the employees who lost their jobs. I know for a fact that not everyone wanted to work for on those games necessarily, but that's life. Best of luck to those who were axed.