Pub trivia fans and those looking for an example of just how cut-throat the video game industry can be, take a look at this list. Try and memorise it if you must, but know it is very long, because it’s a list of every developer and studio that’s closed down since 2006. More »
Today, Gameforge, the German-based publisher of browser-based video games, laid off 100 workers in a restructuring that cancelled two games and threatens its biggest property, Star Trek–Infinite Space. More »
THQ’s big-time bloodletting back in August meant the end of its Brisbane, Australia studio and scuttled the publisher’s planned video game adaptation of The Avengers. Footage of the game in its pre-alpha state released last week and was immediately smashed by YouTube. Now another video has leaked out. More »
Scuttlebutt has it that the Sony Computer Entertainment studio Zipper Interactive, maker of combat shooters MAG and the SOCOM series, lost several employees in a round of layoffs today. Reached for comment, a Sony spokesperson confirmed layoffs at Zipper, characterizing them as “normal business practice and a result of cutting back on production resources after the launch of two major franchises.” Sony would not specify how many positions were lost. More »
Yesterday’s rumours have proven true, as Sony Online Entertainment confirms 205 cut positions, the closure of three studio locations, and puts the final bullet in the head of massively multiplayer online spy game The Agency. More »
The makers of Tron: Evolution and Turok are no more. Disney confirmed the (not too surprising) closure of Vancouver-based dev Propaganda Games today, saying “The studio has completed all work associated with its most recent project.”
Namco Bandai America yesterday let go around 90 staff, in a move that doesn’t just cut costs at the US branch of the Pac-Man publisher, but will also see local development shifted back to Japan. More »
