Tag Archive

Irrational Games Closing, Ken Levine To Focus On Digital Games

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Rae Michelle Richards

In a surprise move that sent shockwaves throughout the gaming community earlier this week, Irrational Games founder Ken Lavine has announced that the studio will be downsizing from its current format as an AAA studio to one with just fifteen members. Considering the critical and financial success both the original Bioshock and last year’s Bioshock Infinite have enjoyed this move might seem out of left field, but Mr.Lavine has attempted to explain the rationale behind this decision in a rather lengthy blog post.

Developers affected by the closure will be offered financial and logistical support according to Levine to help them find new homes in the development community. Other publishers and developers will be visiting the irrational offices to recruit those who didn’t make the cut.

The as of yet unnamed new  studio that will focus on digital titles that are ‘highly re-playable’, the first of which is expected to be published under Irrational’s previous publisher 2K games.

Looking back, In his blog post Levine reflected on the founding of irrational and how he feels they will tackle the road ahead.Read More

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[Prototype] Developer No More

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

Radical Entertainment, the Vancouver-based developers behind [Prototype], [Prototype 2] as well as last generation’s Hulk Ultimate Destruction and The Simpsons: Hit and Run have close their doors Activision confirmed today.

News of the closure spread around social media rather quickly with former members of the studio breaking the news over twitter. Oddly, updates to the companies’ Facebook and Twitter accounts happened mere hours before the closure was announced, suggesting that this closure came about rather quickly.

Activision, the parent company of radical entertainment, issued a statement regarding the closure.Read More

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SEGA Closes Multiple European and Australian Offices

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

The house that Sonic built certainly seen better days. The embattled publisher had already closed some operations in North America, and now they’re following suit with closures in Australia and Europe, which will affect an unknown number of employees. Just like the previous closures SEGA has stated that they will be shifting focus in Europe and Australia towards profitable franchises in digitally delivered content.

SEGA has partnered  Koch Media to assist with the publishing of physical goods (ie. packaged retail games) in Switzerland Austria and France, they will however continue to publish physical games in Australia.

We wish everyone affected by the closures all the best, and we hope to hear soon whether some of Sega’s key 2013 titles, like Phantasy Star Online 2 or the next Yakuza title will be affected.

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Unit 13 Developer Zipper Interactive Closed By Sony

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

Zipper Interactive the Sony first party developer behind the Soccom, Mag and Unit 13 franchises have been shuttered by Sony Computer Interactive.  Confirmation of the closure comes after a turbulent week for the developer as rumors of the closure swirled online. According to reports Zipper employed 80 people before their demise.

In statement issued to the press Sony said the closure of Zipper Interactive is part of their normal “cycle of resource re-alignment. Check out the full statement below:Read More

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