Lightbox is an independent studio. Nothing to do with Sony except for the fact that their first game was published by them.
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Lightbox (Starhawk) lays off 24 people, moves to iOS development
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
Lightbox is an independent studio. Nothing to do with Sony except for the fact that their first game was published by them.
DryvBy
Member
I don't think that's why it failed. I think it fell under the radar. I got it for cheap and thought it was an amazingly good looking and fun game. Multiplayer is a bit tough for nubs like me. Outside of infantry or tanks, I'm a walking point system for the opposing guy's kill streak.
Hydrogen Bluebird
Member
Yup.
And not only that, the writer, Colin Moriarty, doesn't even follow Broussard on Twitter
Oh well, sad for the people that lost their jobs. Good luck to them.
Nothing to do except they are now closing after the publisher cancelled their multi-game contract.
SCE is fully responsible of this.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
you gotta mail kaz quickly so he can undo this! tell him it's for charity!
paperheart
Banned
Sad news. 
I didn't get Starhawk, though. I wanted to, but the beta didn't keep my attention, and I grew tired of it.
I didn't get Starhawk, though. I wanted to, but the beta didn't keep my attention, and I grew tired of it.What? It was everywhere on all the blogs, the PSN Store, What's New on the XMB, on the PlayStation.Blog, the BlogCast, etc. back in May. Couldn't escape it.
Sad news about Lightbox if true, though.
Not fully. They could pitch a game to another publisher if they wanted to.
Do you know how Twitter works? I don't follow him either, but I saw this retweeted before I saw it on GAF.
Hope those guys land on their feet.
Kenshin001
Member
Put hundreds of hours into Warhawk. Played the Starhawk demo and thought it sucked. People just wanted Warhawk in space, not some tower defence game with a dumb story on a muddy brown planet.
Another studio that made a game its fans did not want and suffered the consequences.
Another studio that made a game its fans did not want and suffered the consequences.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
You guys, trust me the beta for this game tanked it before it ever released. If I was Sony I would have done the minimum advertising as well. The figures coming back from the beta had to spell doom. It was bad. Stop pinning this on Sony. If the game was great you would have heard about it. The OT here was one of least active I have seen for a multiplayer game.
Twisted metal sold and reviewed pretty well. Jaffa posted last week saying they were happy with it...
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
Yep he said half a million in sales at full price I believe.
shungokusatsu
Member
Have we even seen any sales data for Starhawk? I'm sure it bombed hardcore; it was a PS+ freebie way too fast. I gave it a try since it was free and ended up uninstalling it 2 hours later, so I'm definitely not surprised.
Die Squirrel Die
Member
It's sad to hear but my interest in Starhawk died when it became apparant that the single player was an undercooked afterthought.
Exactly, and ESP's contract was such that they went into iOS stuff after. 2 games or 2 years I believe It was. TM sold well enough.
Funny too because they had Zero marketing too...
Having a multi-year, multi-game contract with a first party is a big reason to not trying to pitch projects to other publishers, especially if you are a not so big studio with limited resources.
Sure, but after the pulled the contract, LightBox could have pitched to another publisher. Or even gone a completely different route and gone completely indie. Made iOS shit, or whatever.
It's not Sony's fault they're closing. Not completely.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
And would have sold a lot more if not for the connection issues online. The demo was a nightmare and it carried into the retail release. Something Jaffe himself said he wasn't proud of.
Little Old Man
Member
I assumed it was a fully first party title!
I hadn't even heard of it until I saw the beta thread popping up on here, and never saw much of it anything post release- typical Sony marketing.
As said, it sounds like a game more suited to a low price, multiplayer only PSN release.
AAAA from here on out or bust.
I hadn't even heard of it until I saw the beta thread popping up on here, and never saw much of it anything post release- typical Sony marketing.
As said, it sounds like a game more suited to a low price, multiplayer only PSN release.
AAAA from here on out or bust.
MyAbsolution
Member
IIRC, he never mentioned a source or exact numbers. And the game was already 39.99 after less than one month in most places.
Why does he need a source? Pretty sure he has more idea how much it sold than any "source"
This is true for almost every retail release this year.
Jive Turkey
Unconfirmed Member
So what you're saying is if you don't pay attention to PlayStation blogs you could easily have missed Starhawk's release.
MyAbsolution
Member
Well. Some of the actions by ESP/Sony post launch haven't really suggested the game was all that successful. DLC and post launch support really weren't there cuz the sales werent great.
TimeEffect
Member
Game bombed hard, and it never looked as fun as Warhawk to me (played the beta)
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
Online was broken that's why.
Lightbox lost me (and lost my money) when they turned Starhawk into something "weird" that not Warhawk sequel that I wanted.
RTS elements,horrible story mode and other weird and unnecessary decisions,the game turned big bomba is their fault really they should have just made a bigger and better Warhawk 2.
I Hope someone else can give us a real sequel to 2007 Warhawk in the future
RTS elements,horrible story mode and other weird and unnecessary decisions,the game turned big bomba is their fault really they should have just made a bigger and better Warhawk 2.
I Hope someone else can give us a real sequel to 2007 Warhawk in the future
MyAbsolution
Member
Yea that didn't help sales either.
IMO, He has never really been very honest. His twitter for example he would downplay the FUCK outta the game's issues. It was really disheartening.
RealDeadOne
Member
They got boned by marketing. I wasn't even aware the game was out until two months after release. There was essentially zero public awareness of this game.
SniperHunter
Banned
the art style was simply terrible as well...
Sony is cleaning the house!
Zipper
SCE Studio Liverpool
LightBox
Eat Sleep Play
Team ICO
WHO IS NEXT? No bombs allowed!
graywolf323
Member
I remember seeing ads in magazines, on TV, and it even featured prominently in an episode of Necessary Roughness on USA Network
There's a difference between downplaying issues and flat out lying about sales.
Again, they weren't a Sony studio. Neither are Eat Sleep Play (who, by the way, aren't even closed)
And Team ICO isn't dead.
SniperHunter
Banned
I think they were. They had been making games exclusive for Sony systems for a long time, Team Ico is all but dead....and they cut ties with Insomniac as well. All great stuff IMO
btw there were mass firings at eat sleep play right before Twisted metal shipped and David Jaffe also left. I doubt they will release another game.
Not just Sony's blogs, all of them. Kotaku, Joystiq, IGN (heh), Destructoid, GamesRadar, Escapist, GameSpot, Wired, CVG, GameTrailers, etc. Surely we all read at least one of those.
I completely disagree. I don't buy games from brick and mortar stores, but occasionally I go there for other things and see the games on the shelves.
I do not often see games at $39.99 just 1 month after release.
No, they weren't. They were on a multi game contract, but independent of Sony.
How the fuck did they "cut all ties" with Insomniac when Insomniac are still making some Playstation exclusives?
The mind boggles at some of you lot.
Schobeleth
Member
Yeah I loved this game, got it day one and I seriously think it was yet another one of those zero marketing things Sony has been doing lately. I absolutely loved the build and battle system, it was so fresh and new and it's a shame that something that isn't a cookie cutter FPS and actually did something fun and new was either ignored or shunned, from what I've seen.