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[Eccocid]

Matches with hawks enabled were totally unplayable. People were just base raping with hawks and nothing else.
Only fun mode was CTF without hawks.

And setting was sooooooo boring. All the maps look same. Warhawk at least had different themes going on with maps.


Also i read that Starhawk was gonna get free dlc maps? Are they our or after this closure news they are cancelled?

 

[Nemo]

What's the use for a multigame contract if you can cancel it if the first game flops?

 

[MyAbsolution]

There's a difference between downplaying issues and flat out lying about sales.

Im suggesting this is an example of a connection. Yes its my opinion, but hes been know to be very... bias?

I mean the game had a long, 4 year development (shaky one too) and somehow the game sells to profit with likely no advertising, broken launch/demo, and no NPD numbers even close to half a million in the first month (i imagine european sales were horrid, every TM sells like shit there). And its reduced price came in effect within a few weeks at every retailer... so how do you get half a million at full price?

It doesn't add up in my mind.

You can choose to believe what you want. But that's all I'll say. As im really off-topic.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

always struck me as a game that should have been on pc. it looked like a hard sell to console gamers, very niche....especially as an exclusive.

 

[Sipowicz]

RIP man. Warhawk was awesome. Starhawk was shit though

 

[SniperHunter]

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.

All the Ratchet games sold terribly, Resistance was a bomb as well (not to mention a mediocre series). Insomniac had been sheltered by Sony for too long, we will see how they perform now under EA.

I doubt Insomniac will release a major retail PS4 exclusive ever.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Their programming skills will come in handy. Hopefully many of the staff will bounce back.

 

[kuroshiki]

Not that I personally care, but if he found the story here first, he could have write "via NeoGAF" after Broussard.

Not really.

 

[CREMSteve]

I very much feel for the people that are losing their jobs, but neither Warhawk nor Starhawk ever really caught my interest, so I can't say that from a gaming perspective, this is a huge loss for me, personally.

Hopefully they all land on their feet with another developer.

 

[Moaradin]

I didn't even know this game came out yet. It looked good, but it was PS3 exclusive so I couldn't play.

 

[Carl]

All the Ratchet games sold terribly, Resistance was a bomb as well (not to mention a mediocre series). Insomniac had been sheltered by Sony for too long, we will see how they perform now under EA.

I doubt Insomniac will release a major retail PS4 exclusive ever.

No they didn't...

 

[TTP]

Since I didn't dig Starhawk as much as Warhawk (albeit I did really appreciate the effort to try something new) this news doesn't drive me completely crazy.

It does still suck to see a solid dev going belly up.

 

[vazel]

I remember seeing ads in magazines, on TV, and it even featured prominently in an episode of Necessary Roughness on USA Network

Whenever a game bombs marketing is now becoming an easy cop-out by armchair enthusiasts. People said the same thing when The Secret World bombed despite it having plenty of marketing.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

No they didn't...

Carl I think it is time to leave. Lol

 

[gadwn]

Sad, but not surprising. Starhawk bombed hard, NO ONE was talking about it. Don't know why really, thought the beta was really fun. Didn't get around to buy it though, because NO ONE that I knew of was gonna buy it. I feel like the games biggest fault was it's art style, it looked so god damn generic. Too bad, the concept was something special.

 

[LastNac]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I bought StarHawk Day 1. Not like this, Sony. Not like this...

 

[Metalmurphy]

Should have just made it free to play and charge for dlc and the single player, yet they choose to do the exact opposite

 

[Jive Turkey]

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'm about to blow your mind. Ready? Not everybody who is interested in this hobby feels the need to read gaming blogs. In fact there are many people who don't waste their time with them. Any gaming news I want I get here and usually with far less corporate fanboy fellating. If I hadn't checked the NPD thread that month I wouldn't have realized Starhawk came out either.

 

[JohnnySasaki86]

Starhawk came out!?! I downloaded the beta, for it but never got around to playing it. Had no idea the full game was actually released. I'll have to go look for a copy. Can you buy it on the PSN Store?

Was there any actual advertising for this game?

No, and this is the reason their game bomb. Sony sent them to their deaths.

All the Ratchet games sold terribly, Resistance was a bomb as well (not to mention a mediocre series). Insomniac had been sheltered by Sony for too long, we will see how they perform now under EA.

I doubt Insomniac will release a major retail PS4 exclusive ever.

ummm no it didnt, and R1 is one of the highest selling PS3 games of all time.

 

[StuBurns]

I was put off by the construction stuff personally, it's sad to see any developer go down, but that game took a while, and wasn't all that appealing. Sony did a bad job marketing it too though.

 

[TTP]

I was put off by the construction stuff personally, it's sad to see any developer go down, but that game took a while, and wasn't all that appealing. Sony did a bad job marketing it too though.

I don't know. I recall seeing a lot of steady coverage since the announcement.
Perhaps it was the beta. I personally stopped caring about the game after playing that and no amount of marketing could have brought me back.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

I don't know. I recall seeing a lot of steady coverage since the announcement.
Perhaps it was the beta. I personally stopped caring about the game after playing that and no amount of marketing could have brought me back.

This is exactly what happened. The beta killed this game months before release.

 

[The Lamp]

Starhawk was loads of fun. I bought the CE I just have been too busy to play it since the week it came out. Lightbox noooo....

My friends have seen soo many ads and bombardment over Dishonored, and although it's a new IP, my friends who typically don't keep up with games know about it. They've seen commercials and want to buy it.

If Sony put half as much effort like that into marketing their games maybe games like this would get some sales.

 

[Squire]

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.

There's a thing called retweeting - a lot of people are doing it to Brossard's.

GAF's not owed anything here including a courtesy mention. Even if Morisrty read it here first, his job is to credit the direct source. Anything after that is extra.

Gosh. I like GAF, but the hubris on display right now. Ugh.

Best of luck to all the LB employees that were let go.

 

[Acageron]

This is a blow to Sony's 1st party stable.

Will be missed.


edit: second party*

 

[Wario64]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012...tbox-interactive-hit-with-layoffs-moving-away

LightBox Interactive, the Austin-based developer behind PlayStation 3 game Starhawk, has laid off 24 of its employees, studio founder and president Dylan Jobe tells Polygon. The layoffs are part of a "shift in product strategy" at LightBox, Jobe says, which includes a move away from traditional console development.

Jobe says he's not shutting down LightBox Interactive. Instead, the company will self-fund a small, focused indie-style team to bring the developer's next game to iOS, not the PlayStation 3.

 

[MeBecomingI]

Fantastic game made a great studio... such a complete shame. Really pisses me off that the game didn't get the sales it deserves. Once again goes to prove that although Sony knows how to pump out many games from either first party or 'second' party, it doesn't know how to market all of them properly. Just too many.

Hopefully everyone is picked up soon.

Edit: Ugh, laying off 24 people so they can focus on iOS development? Ridiculous. There must have been some fighting going on between Sony and Lightbox for that three-game deal to fly out the window. This is frustrating...

 

[LiK]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012...tbox-interactive-hit-with-layoffs-moving-away

LightBox Interactive, the Austin-based developer behind PlayStation 3 game Starhawk, has laid off 24 of its employees, studio founder and president Dylan Jobe tells Polygon. The layoffs are part of a "shift in product strategy" at LightBox, Jobe says, which includes a move away from traditional console development.

Jobe says he's not shutting down LightBox Interactive. Instead, the company will self-fund a small, focused indie-style team to bring the developer's next game to iOS, not the PlayStation 3.

:|

 

[Loudninja]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012...tbox-interactive-hit-with-layoffs-moving-away

LightBox Interactive, the Austin-based developer behind PlayStation 3 game Starhawk, has laid off 24 of its employees, studio founder and president Dylan Jobe tells Polygon. The layoffs are part of a "shift in product strategy" at LightBox, Jobe says, which includes a move away from traditional console development.

Jobe says he's not shutting down LightBox Interactive. Instead, the company will self-fund a small, focused indie-style team to bring the developer's next game to iOS, not the PlayStation 3.

Same has David Jaffe I guess.

Good they are still alive though.

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

Carl I think it is time to leave. Lol

there's no point in arguing with stuff like this.
when people come out posting that lightbox was part of sce, that team ico is dead and now that ratchet bombed (yet we're still having a new one this year), everything is doomed.
this kind of stuff doesn't even relate to the topic and doesn't even start a discussion about how developers are always at risk of closing if they bet all their money on the wrong game.
i think that perhaps the production values for starhawk were too damn high for the kind of game it was, i mean, this wasn't gonna attract a lot of people, they had already seen how warhawk fared and it's not exactly a very popular genre. not saying that these games don't deserve to exist, but the deals that were made probably were too ambitious for their own good.

 

[LastNac]

:|

Damn it! Why not just do PSN titles instead?

 

[Angry Fork]

They took so long on the game, you have to strike while the iron's hot. PS3 had virtually nothing in 2007 so while Warhawk was a great game if it was popular/successful part of that is because it had no competition. You can't expect people who played that to still be on board 5 years later. It should've been treated like a new IP at that point since people who played Warhawk have likely moved on to other things and everyone else didn't own a PS3 in 2007 have never heard of the series.

And obligatory mention about Sony and lack of advertising. Sony seems to think Sony fanboys will do all the work for them and promote the game through word of mouth or on the internet. Get some bus and subway advertisements out there if you care about a game succeeding you have to spend to advertise otherwise what's the point. Unless Sony just thinks Sony die-hards are enough to keep their games afloat.

As for me I loved Warhawk but didn't get Starhawk mainly because the focus was on multiplayer and I care more about single player now for PS3 exclusives. There's nothing on PS3 multiplayer-wise that's going to take me away from TF2 on PC. Nobody is even trying to beat Valve on the free updates they do that keeps TF2 alive and I love it.

The only thing that would bring me back to PS3 multiplayer gaming is an HD version of Socom 2. I don't want a full blown remake but just the upscaling stuff like the other HD collections.

 

[V_Ben]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012...tbox-interactive-hit-with-layoffs-moving-away

LightBox Interactive, the Austin-based developer behind PlayStation 3 game Starhawk, has laid off 24 of its employees, studio founder and president Dylan Jobe tells Polygon. The layoffs are part of a "shift in product strategy" at LightBox, Jobe says, which includes a move away from traditional console development.

Jobe says he's not shutting down LightBox Interactive. Instead, the company will self-fund a small, focused indie-style team to bring the developer's next game to iOS, not the PlayStation 3.

I'd rather they stay afloat than shut down entirely. I wonder what a Lightbox iOS game would be like. Interesting times.

 

[fluffydelusions]

This is a blow to Sony's 1st party stable.

Will be missed.

Probably could have gotten more sales if Sony actually advertised it. If I didn't follow websites such as this I would never even know the game existed.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

I'm about to blow your mind. Ready? Not everybody who is interested in this hobby feels the need to read gaming blogs. In fact there are many people who don't waste their time with them. Any gaming news I want I get here and usually with far less corporate fanboy fellating. If I hadn't checked the NPD thread that month I wouldn't have realized Starhawk came out either.

Same here. I learned about the release from the NPD thread. Mainly multiplayer exclusives usually don't do very well on the system. Starhawk, Socom, MAG, etc.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

A studio moving away from console development to indie/iOS/social? Seems like a trend that we're probably going to see more often moving into next-gen.

 

[Kenshin001]

Starhawk was loads of fun. I bought the CE I just have been too busy to play it since the week it came out. Lightbox noooo....

My friends have seen soo many ads and bombardment over Dishonored, and although it's a new IP, my friends who typically don't keep up with games know about it. They've seen commercials and want to buy it.

If Sony put half as much effort like that into marketing their games maybe games like this would get some sales.

Like I said I loved Warhawk but hated Starhawk. I don't think marketing would have helped when even the core fans of the first game hated it. A lot of the WH promotion was just word of mouth, on forums etc. Plus, they boxed the headset with it.

They could have put the MP on PSN for $20 over the summer. I even suggested it to Jobe on twitter ages ago. They finally did in late September but it was too late, so tough luck I guess. I'm not a marketing expert but it was obvious no-one cared about the game and they should have reacted quicker, exploited the summer games drought.

 

[The Lamp]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012...tbox-interactive-hit-with-layoffs-moving-away

LightBox Interactive, the Austin-based developer behind PlayStation 3 game Starhawk, has laid off 24 of its employees, studio founder and president Dylan Jobe tells Polygon. The layoffs are part of a "shift in product strategy" at LightBox, Jobe says, which includes a move away from traditional console development.

Jobe says he's not shutting down LightBox Interactive. Instead, the company will self-fund a small, focused indie-style team to bring the developer's next game to iOS, not the PlayStation 3.

I am so pissed right now. It sucks that Sony had to do this. A Warhawk/Starhawk sequel might never happen now

They took so long on the game, you have to strike while the iron's hot. PS3 had virtually nothing in 2007 so while Warhawk was a great game if it was popular/successful part of that is because it had no competition. You can't expect people who played that to still be on board 5 years later. It should've been treated like a new IP at that point since people who played Warhawk have likely moved on to other things and everyone else didn't own a PS3 in 2007 have never heard of the series.

And obligatory mention about Sony and lack of advertising. Sony seems to think Sony fanboys will do all the work for them and promote the game through word of mouth or on the internet. Get some bus and subway advertisements out there if you care about a game succeeding you have to spend to advertise otherwise what's the point. Unless Sony just thinks Sony die-hards are enough to keep their games afloat.

As for me I loved Warhawk but didn't get Starhawk mainly because the focus was on multiplayer and I care more about single player now for PS3 exclusives. There's nothing on PS3 multiplayer-wise that's going to take me away from TF2 on PC. Nobody is even trying to beat Valve on the free updates they do that keeps TF2 alive and I love it.

The only thing that would bring me back to PS3 multiplayer gaming is an HD version of Socom 2. I don't want a full blown remake but just the upscaling stuff like the other HD collections.

But Warhawk didn't even have single-player, and Starhawk does, and if you liked Warhawk I don't see why you wouldn't want to try Starhawk even if it was multiplayer (if you didn't like it because you played it/researched it, then never mind).

 

[alr1ght]

PC, Steam, XBLA, PSN...anything but phones. :/

 

[Kenshin001]

They took so long on the game, you have to strike while the iron's hot. PS3 had virtually nothing in 2007 so while Warhawk was a great game if it was popular/successful part of that is because it had no competition. You can't expect people who played that to still be on board 5 years later. It should've been treated like a new IP at that point since people who played Warhawk have likely moved on to other things and everyone else didn't own a PS3 in 2007 have never heard of the series.

And obligatory mention about Sony and lack of advertising. Sony seems to think Sony fanboys will do all the work for them and promote the game through word of mouth or on the internet. Get some bus and subway advertisements out there if you care about a game succeeding you have to spend to advertise otherwise what's the point. Unless Sony just thinks Sony die-hards are enough to keep their games afloat.

As for me I loved Warhawk but didn't get Starhawk mainly because the focus was on multiplayer and I care more about single player now for PS3 exclusives. There's nothing on PS3 multiplayer-wise that's going to take me away from TF2 on PC. Nobody is even trying to beat Valve on the free updates they do that keeps TF2 alive and I love it.

The only thing that would bring me back to PS3 multiplayer gaming is an HD version of Socom 2. I don't want a full blown remake but just the upscaling stuff like the other HD collections.

What?

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Thats a shame. Starhawk is some good fun.

Best of luck to all of that team

 

[Violater]

All they had to do was release an updated warhawk, MP only game.
SMH, sad to see you go Dylan you are one of the coolest Devs out there

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Instead, the company will self-fund a small, focused indie-style team to bring the developer's next game to iOS, not the PlayStation 3.

Dammit, not this. Well, I guess it's better than nothing. They can grow from there.

 

[Mrbob]

How big is Lightbox? Trying to figure out how much of the current staff is being let go at 24 total.

Should have went PC, Dylan.

 

[HamPster PamPster]

I hope all the laid off employees land on their feet

But lets be honest, they deserved the low sales for ignoring the War of Monsters and Downhill Domination IPs. Damn it, the world was ready for sequels!!

 

[Tuck]

Wow what an absolute shame.

 

[MeBecomingI]

PC, Steam, XBLA, PSN...anything but phones. :/

I would have to agree with this. I'm getting exhausted with the phone market now, especially with everyone seemingly jumping to iOS development and nothing is persuading me to jump into mobile phone gaming... I'd rather see the digital platforms of PSN, XBLA, and Steam be the home to many of these smaller indie-style games that companies like Lightbox want to make.

I figure with the layoffs, Lightbox is officially done with Starhawk content. I can't see patches stopping flat out yet, so I wouldn't doubt the development of patches will move to an internal development team within Sony.

It certainly seemed like Sony and Lightbox had a good relationship, but sales can change everything. Sony did try and market the game, but unfortunately it just wasn't enough. Granted, the style of the game didn't exactly play well to a large audience and it even had a hard time courting the Warhawk fans too.

 

[Angry Fork]

I am so pissed right now. It sucks that Sony had to do this. A Warhawk/Starhawk sequel might never happen now



But Warhawk didn't even have single-player, and Starhawk does, and if you liked Warhawk I don't see why you wouldn't want to try Starhawk even if it was multiplayer (if you didn't like it because you played it/researched it, then never mind).

What?

In 2007 I didn't play any other multiplayer games on PS3 and hadn't since the Socom days on PS2. So Warhawk was a brand new experience for me. Now 5 years later I've played tons of MP games and have stuck with TF2 and have no interest in going back to Warhawk multiplayer even though it was great when I played it.

Starhawk had SP but I heard it was 4-6 hours and basically a me-too single player rather than something substantial and the focus like Bioshock or Uncharted.

 

[Pranay]

This is a blow to Sony's 1st party stable.

Will be missed.

They are not first party and i doubt they will be missed.

 

[bobbytkc]

I'm about to blow your mind. Ready? Not everybody who is interested in this hobby feels the need to read gaming blogs. In fact there are many people who don't waste their time with them. Any gaming news I want I get here and usually with far less corporate fanboy fellating. If I hadn't checked the NPD thread that month I wouldn't have realized Starhawk came out either.

If you only get your gaming news from neogaf, why are you blaming the marketing?