Poor Economy Shuts Down Devs
Editorial | December 30, 2008 11:16 am
With the recession in full swing for quite some time, and despite global economic stimulus packages, portions of the economy are still suffering. Heavily. The videogame industry, thought to be an industry on its way up the food chain, is staggering with a sudden drop in stocks. With the nervous shareholders, publishers are beginning to drop titles that have been in development for some time.
The recession has even forced several studios to close their doors. Permanently. Some devs have made massive staff cuts to attempt to keep their boat afloat. Let's run through the studios shutdown, merged, or locked up recently.
EA Black Box has recently been shutdown; a choice made by EA Executives to conserve money in the current economy. EA Black Box is currently developing Skate 2, sequel to the popular Skate. However, EA Execs have told worried consumers not to fear, as they are merging Black Box with the EA Burnaby Studio. EA Burnaby is located in British Columbia, Canada.
Aside from EA Black Box being merged with another studio, Midway cut a quarter of their staff from jobs. They were sold for a measly one hundred thousand dollars earlier this year, due to a seventy million dollar deficit. Midway Austin is shutdown completely, with may of their other studios taking hits.
Free Radical, developers of the Timesplitter series, are also in trouble: They are currently working on Time Splitters 4, with their most recent project, Haze, taking a beating this year. The studio has been in administration for several weeks, meaning the doors are locked and nobody is allowed to work. Studio Heads have said, however, that the employees are paid until the end of December. It is likely the studio will be shutting its doors sometime in the New Year.
With these studios struggling immensely, the economic issues felt elsewhere are being felt here. Expect further updates as the studios announce plans for the future and where their projects will end up.
The recession has even forced several studios to close their doors. Permanently. Some devs have made massive staff cuts to attempt to keep their boat afloat. Let's run through the studios shutdown, merged, or locked up recently.
EA Black Box has recently been shutdown; a choice made by EA Executives to conserve money in the current economy. EA Black Box is currently developing Skate 2, sequel to the popular Skate. However, EA Execs have told worried consumers not to fear, as they are merging Black Box with the EA Burnaby Studio. EA Burnaby is located in British Columbia, Canada.
Aside from EA Black Box being merged with another studio, Midway cut a quarter of their staff from jobs. They were sold for a measly one hundred thousand dollars earlier this year, due to a seventy million dollar deficit. Midway Austin is shutdown completely, with may of their other studios taking hits.
Free Radical, developers of the Timesplitter series, are also in trouble: They are currently working on Time Splitters 4, with their most recent project, Haze, taking a beating this year. The studio has been in administration for several weeks, meaning the doors are locked and nobody is allowed to work. Studio Heads have said, however, that the employees are paid until the end of December. It is likely the studio will be shutting its doors sometime in the New Year.
With these studios struggling immensely, the economic issues felt elsewhere are being felt here. Expect further updates as the studios announce plans for the future and where their projects will end up.
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