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Sony To Restructure Liverpool Studio (WipEout/Motorstorm), Halt Several Projects

KennyLinder said:
No, it isn't canned! Jeez will people read the thread!

Listen to this man. He works for Sony. Not everyone is being let go from Liverpool and the layoffs are nowhere near as big as the articles make out. I know this to be true because I have spoken directly with someone involved.

Many of the staff aren't being let go from Sony also. They are being relocated to other development teams.
 
It's just one slow sad erosion I guess.Man destruction derby was good stuff.I wish we could see another road rash what happened to all those games.Everything doesnt need to be turismo.
 
badcrumble said:
I wonder what the Wipeout folks were working on once the Fury expansion pack was completed ...
I think some of them have worked on the codebase to prepare the game for showing
off the 3-D effect at trade-shows.
 
[Nintex] said:
There's no chance in hell I'll ever see Destruction Derby ever again.... :(

:(

DD2 will alway be the greatest arcade racer on PlayStation.

Yoshida green lit the shitty Twisted Metal for PS3 and shitcanned the entire Liverpool Studio -- on top of axing other European based projects.

He's out of control.
 
missile said:
I think some of them have worked on the codebase to prepare the game for showing
off the 3-D effect at trade-shows.
Ah, that would make sense. Cold as ice that they would dismiss people even before that update releases and the subsequent uptick in Wipeout HD sales.


Wax Free Vanilla said:
:(

shitty Twisted Metal
smh
 
Wax Free Vanilla said:
:(DD2 will alway be the greatest arcade racer on PlayStation.

This. And quite ahead of its time, you were able to record your replays so I still have a completely insane race I did like 14 years ago :lol
 
.....I was not expecting just Studio Liverpool to be affected, was it not Harrison whom flat out took a dump on Evolution studios saying they were the weakest first party Sony had? If Sony can keep Bigbig and Evolution going, Wipeout HD must have sold really bad.
 
The amount of people in this thread who fail to properly comprehend the articles and news they're reading is astonishing. As is the number of people who think that Motorstorm: PR is not a great game.
 
KennyLinder said:
No, no they aren't.

then what does this mean?!?!?!
oh my god, i hate you sony. until you give me heavy rain. or god of war 3. or the last guardian. while they're not released, i'll hate you.

Studio Liverpool Internal Development shut down by Sony
January 29th 2010

It's with a heavy heart I report that Sony Computer Entertainment has taken the decision to
terminate almost everyone at Studio Liverpool Internal Development today.

This essentially brings to an end a long history of game development at Studio Liverpool,
formarly Psygnosis.

I feel privileged to have been a part of it for six years. Right now, I don't have a whole lot to say
other than to hope that all the great folks who worked there can find new jobs soon.
 
jett said:
People, nobody gives a fuck about Motorstorm. Stop talking about Motorstorm. Fuck Motorstorm. Fuck Sony. Right in the ass.

Holy shit calm down. They wouldn't have to shut Liverpool down if Wipeout HD sold like gangbusters but it didn't, because the fans didn't buy it or there simply wasn't enough of a market for their games.
Indifferent2.gif
 
whew, i thought it was canned. it would be an abomination if wipeout development was ceased. i think though it would be nice if the wipeout guys brought a new ip of sorts because it can be a bit frustrating doing the same IP all over again.



[Nintex] said:
Its sad that the gifs have a better framerate than Motorstorm PR.


you're either having a laugh or seriously off your head. i suspect it's the latter.
 
KingDizzi said:
.....I was not expecting just Studio Liverpool to be affected, was it not Harris whom flat out took a dump on Evolution studios saying they were the weakest first party Sony had? If Sony can keep Bigbig and Evolution going, Wipeout HD must have sold really bad.
No, they weren't even first party at the time. It was during an internal Sony meeting where Evolution showed off Motorstorm at the end of 05 and it was nothing but box cars and rough environments(pretty sure this video has the footage, despite it being a troll on the 360). Harrison said "You guys are the worst in the world" after the event, in a joking manner I assume. Harrison hyped Motorstorm as the killer app for the PS3 when he was still with Sony, so his opinion of the studio had to be pretty high.
 
Baki said:
So do we call for Yoshida head now, or later.

PS: We want Phil back. :/

What does Yoshida have to do with this? Wipeout HD didn't sell, if it sold like mad and Yoshida still decided to close Liverpool, THEN he would be at fault.

You want Phil back to do what? When Phil was in charge, they couldn't get the games out, times are tough, money doesn't grow on trees, etc.
 
The game doesn't run nearly as solid as those gifs on my PC.

for reference: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/cascade-falls-motorstorm-pacific/39682

WipeOut HD ran at 60fps and that blew my mind.

Wax Free Vanilla said:
:(

DD2 will alway be the greatest arcade racer on PlayStation.

Yoshida green lit the shitty Twisted Metal for PS3 and shitcanned the entire Liverpool Studio -- on top of axing other European based projects.

He's out of control.
He's insane that's what he is. He can sit right next to Yoichi Wada and Phil Spencer in the throneroom of lunatics.
 
Has it been properly confirmed that Psygnosis is being closed?

Because if thats the case, then well I am lost for words.

In the UK Psygnosis == Playstation

It was Wipeout that launched the thing in the UK, and Psygnosis was involved from a very early point in the PSX's development, not just technically either, Wipeout design philosophy dominated the marketing of the PSX is pubs/clubs across the UK.

I would consider myself a fan of Sony and the PS3, and I usually try to be impartial in my thoughts when it comes to the "console war", but seriously this tests my patience and belief that the people at Sony actually know what they are doing.

Where is Phil Harrison again?
 
Kittonwy said:
What does Yoshida have to do with this? Wipeout HD didn't sell, if it sold like mad and Yoshida still decided to close Liverpool, THEN he would be at fault.

You want Phil back to do what? When Phil was in charge, they couldn't get the games out, times are tough, money doesn't grow on trees, etc.
Games took longer to come out when Phil was in charge(at least according to you), and games don't come out now that Yoshida is in charge. Seems like a poor trade to me. :D

I'm just kidding. Kind of...
[Nintex said:
] The game doesn't run nearly as solid as those gifs on my PC.

for reference: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ca...-pacific/39682

WipeOut HD ran at 60fps and that blew my mind.
A gif can't bump the framerate of a game, no? PR has very solid framerate, especially for all of the craziness that goes on in it. Not saying that Wipeout wasn't excellent in it's own way though.
 
badcrumble said:
Ah, that would make sense. Cold as ice that they would dismiss people even before that update releases and the subsequent uptick in Wipeout HD sales. ...
I hoped for an additional DLC, 4 new tracks, 2 new teams, and some new ZONE colors coupled
with Sony's future release of the 3-D update for the PS3. I mean, WipEout HD is a show-case
title for the 3-D effect, isn't it?
 
Kittonwy said:
Holy shit calm down. They wouldn't have to shut Liverpool down if Wipeout HD sold like gangbusters but it didn't, because the fans didn't buy it or there simply wasn't enough of a market for their games.
Indifferent2.gif

If the game didn't sell gangbusters it's not really the studio's fault, as they delivered a very well received critical success.

It's Sony's fault for either doing a poor job at marketing or reading the market wrong and approving the concept in the first place.
 
If Wipeout HD had sold well, they wouldn't have brought the loading screen ads back a second time. iirc, the leaderboards showed 100k+ users, but... that's worldwide combined, with no clue as to how much gamesharing was involved. And I don't think anybody else in Sony is using the fancy variable resolution rendering tech they developed for the game either.

That being said, I love Wipeout HD, and I'm sad to hear this news.
 
missile said:
I hoped for an additional DLC, 4 new tracks, 2 new teams, and some new ZONE colors coupled
with Sony's future release of the 3-D update for the PS3. I mean, WipEout HD is a show-case
title for the 3-D effect, isn't it?
Yeah, I was hoping for a final expansion. It's got loads of content with just one, though; I only wish there were campaign additions of some of the new modes with the older tracks rather than having to do those through racebox or online.
 
so what exactly is the news here(i have'nt follow this thread)

the Wipeout team is no more? Is Evolution still together?

My 2 favorite racers WipEout HD and Motorstorm PR. These guys did an amazing job for Sony.
 
Sony Liverpool most definitely aren't closing; they've been hiring a big bunch of QA staff recently. The most likely situation is that the remaining workforce are being used to assist other studios, whilst Liverpool operates as mainly a centre for QA, Admin etc.
 
kazuma_pt said:
then what does this mean?!?!?!
oh my god, i hate you sony. until you give me heavy rain. or god of war 3. or the last guardian. while they're not released, i'll hate you.


That piece of information was written by someone who runs a 3rd party Wipeout website, and it's not 100% accurate.

I've said a number of times now what is actually happening to the studio, yet it seems everyone is ignoring me. I'll try one more time:

Sony Liverpool is NOT closing down, but several developers were made redundant today. I don't know how many, but it was not the entire studio.
 
KennyLinder said:
Sony Liverpool is NOT closing down, but several developers were made redundant today. I don't know how many, but it was not the entire studio.
The main speculation seems to be that a bunch of Psygnosis old timers were kicked out, can you confirm?
 
~Devil Trigger~ said:
so what exactly is the news here(i have'nt follow this thread)

Evo isn't being touched in this whole situation apparently. Liverpool is taking the hit. Rumor is that 80% of their games have been canned and a large chunk of the staff has been let go. People decided to jump to conclusions though and now people think all of Liverpool is being shut down when that isn't the case at all.
 
~Devil Trigger~ said:
so what exactly is the news here(i have'nt follow this thread)

the Wipeout team is no more? Is Evolution still together?

My 2 favorite racers WipEout HD and Motorstorm PR. These guys did an amazing job for Sony.

Right,
Evolution -> Motorstorm
Liverpool -> WipEout
Two different studios, 20 minutes drive from each other.

Today the Liverpool Studio has made some redundancies.

That's it in a nutshell.
 
[Nintex] said:
The main speculation seems to be that a bunch of Psygnosis old timers were kicked out, can you confirm?

We found out about this on Wednesday this week, that there would be some job losses in the Liverpool Studio.

Today it was confirmed to us (sorry, I can't tell you which Sony studio I work for) that this is the case. We were not told who (because out of respect, the developers themselves had only just been told), and we were not told how many (well we were told a rough number).
 
-Amon- said:
Wipeout hd is one of my favourite games of this generations, and i'm a long time fan of the wipeout universe, starting from day one on the ps1.

But i guess that wipeout became a niche, while it was really mainstream in the old days. I guess they should have worked on something new instead of going down that road till the end.

I and others will never be bored by wipeout, but the market thinks different from us it seems.

And i can't really undersand the motorstorm hate, great games both.
.

Looking at the leaderboards it must have sold roughly 200,000 - 250,000 copies and the Fury dlc maybe a small percentage of this. It was put on PSN, little marketing and probably (alot would agree) underpriced. It wasn't a surprise to see in-game ads patched in later. So yeah it became a niche.

Wipeout HD sorta fufilled their vision for the series. 1080p 60fps etc - so its a great way to end the series if that is the case. Fury hinted at the future of the series but it is hard to see where they could take it, more dlc?

Motorstorm is sorta a successor to the Desrtuction Derby games, without arena battles.

Still sad news.
 
KennyLinder said:
That piece of information was written by someone who runs a 3rd party Wipeout website, and it's not 100% accurate.

I've said a number of times now what is actually happening to the studio, yet it seems everyone is ignoring me. I'll try one more time:

Sony Liverpool is NOT closing down, but several developers were made redundant today. I don't know how many, but it was not the entire studio.

ok ok, i'll calm down. wipeout is still safe.
oh god, i was almost having a heart attack.
 
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