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Studios we lost in 2016

S

Saucycarpdog

Member
Wanted to make this thread to remember and remind everyone of the studios that closed down in 2016.

Every year we lose talented game studios and 2016 was no different. If I'm missing any please tell me and I'll update the OP.

Lionhead studios
lionhead.jpg

Press Play
Press_Play_logo.png

Evolution Studios
EvolutionStudios.jpg

Playdom
playdom-logo.jpg

N Space
20130822_n-space.jpg

United Front Games
latest

Black Sea Studios
Black-Sea-Studios-Ltd-127569-full.jpeg


Majesco Games
220px-Majesco_2012.jpg
 
Really gutted about Press Play, thought they were a a great team for MS to have on their books and the least said about Lionhead the better.

Shocking stuff from MS :(
 
LordKano said:
Majesco too, I think they've fusionned with a textile company and left the video game business ?
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From Wikipedia:

In December 2016, Majesco announced it was ceasing operations in the entertainment industry, and merged with biotech firm PolarityTE. Polarity will obtain Majesco's NASDAQ symbol name, COOL.
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Someone wrote into Giant Bombcast explaining that PolarityTE wanted to get on the NASDAQ and merged with Majesco as an easier way in. Worth it just to get COOL.
 
Evolution and United Front hurt the most. DriveClub and Sleeping Dogs are excellent games that deserve a sequel, particularly the latter. And now they'll never happen.
 
United Front hurts. I don't like GTA type games, but i love love love Sleeping dogs. Where's my Sleeping Dawgs 2 at?
 
Still crazy that Evolution Studios was closed. I was under the impression it had a bumpy start, but ended up becoming a commercial success that was well received by a good number of customers.

Bits N Pieces said:
Really gutted about Press Play, thought they were a a great team for MS to have on their books and the least said about Lionhead the better.

Shocking stuff from MS :(
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I think Press Play's fate was sealed when their new game, Project Knoxville, failed to ignite interest when it entered open play testing.

Lionhead's closure can be totally pinned on Phil Harrison for pigeon holing the future of the studio in online play, and telling the creative heads at the studio that Fable 4 was not an option.
 
Acquiescence said:
Evolution and United Front hurt the most. DriveClub and Sleeping Dogs are excellent games that deserve a sequel, particularly the latter. And now they'll never happen.
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Evolution produced flop after flop since PS3 era - Sony were really patient publisher that they kept giving them chance after chance. And Driveclub was mess when it was released despite delays.
 
Closing United Front Games was so fucking stupid.

Sleeping Dogs 2 would have been a commercial and critical success FOR SURE.
 
RIP Lionhead.

The higher ups at Microsoft who forced them to make a Kinect game then a F2P game should have fallen on their swords instead of shuttering a studio who had nothing to do with those decisions. Lionhead desperately wanted to make Fable 4 with Victorian London stylings but got screwed over by the incompetence of executives chasing the latest fads. What a waste. :(
 
EmiPrime said:
RIP Lionhead.

The higher ups at Microsoft who forced them to make a Kinect game then a F2P game should have fallen on their swords instead of shuttering a studio who had nothing to do with those decisions. Lionhead desperately wanted to make Fable 4 with Victorian London stylings but got screwed over by the incompetence of executives chasing the latest fads. What a waste. :(
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Peter Molyneux was a fan of Kinect and Phil Harrison didn't want Fable 4. Neither of them are with MS these days.
 
It was really sad to hear about all of these studios closing.

I was really happy and relieved to hear that Evolution Studios joined with Codemasters.

Lionhead was absolutely heartbreaking for me, so was United Front Games.

United Front Games literally closed out of nowhere which made it even more shocking, they announced a new game and put it on Steam Early Access a few weeks before they closed.
 
Two Tribes also closed down in 2016, not that they'd been relevant for a long time. Toki Tori was great, though.

Edit: Relentless Software also closed. They made the Buzz games.
 
Sydle said:
Still crazy that Evolution Studios was closed. I was under the impression it had a bumpy start, but ended up becoming a commercial success that was well received by a good number of customers.
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I think that was only after it was discounted by a bit, in terms of retail at least in UK iirc it was heavily bundled at times.

The one year delay + having issues at launch for months iirc likely over weighted their commercial success.
 
novabolt said:
Them competing with others like Playground G, Sumo Digital, T10 and many others.

Motorstrom was unique but DClub wasnt. It was a pretty picture but a basic game in mechanics compared to others.
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Disagree. Evolution helping with a new GRID would be amazing really.
 
Strootman said:
Press play just changed their name.
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Everyone was laid off, office closed and lights out.

That's not changing their name.


A bunch of the original founders got together a build a new studio, bought the Press Play IPs from Microsoft and are trying to make those projects into something.

So yes, the studio closed and a lot of people lost their job.
 
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