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2 more studios gone pop this week.
Internal development studio at NC Soft Europe, working on a PS3 MMO, earlier this week.
Ensemble Studios (makers of AOE, Halo Wars) annouced yesterday.. Arguably one of the most well known studios around.Whats happening in the world?? Reckon 2008 must have been up there with the most amount of studios being bought out or shutdown.
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Hey, that title was slightly misleading there Pete.. :lol:
I thought you were referring to the recent multi-billion dollar big bang experiment that some pannicky people thought would create a black hole and engulf the entire world.. :lol:
Whats happening in the world?? Reckon 2008 must have been up there with the most amount of studios being bought out or shutdown.[/quote:8006842c93]
Rising costs I guess… It’s getting more and more expensive to produce AAA titles and keep up with the ever rising standards on next gen consoles. I guess the flagging economy and failing PC market (in the case of some devs) can’t be helping either.
This doesn’t bode well for the future in any case..
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Internal development studio at NC Soft Europe, working on a PS3 MMO, earlier this week.[/quote:06008b7e60]
This the one in Brighton?
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Internal development studio at NC Soft Europe, working on a PS3 MMO, earlier this week.[/quote:479336113a]
This the one in Brighton?[/quote:479336113a]
yes the very one..
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Hey, that title was slightly misleading there Pete.. :lol:
I thought you were referring to the recent multi-billion dollar big bang experiment that some pannicky people thought would create a black hole and engulf the entire world.. :lol:
[/quote:6da0c55772]They haven’t really done anything yet. Could still blow up the world!
I’ve been having wet dreams about this happening for several years now. Buy me a drink some time and I’ll tell you all the exciting details.
(I’m not a science geek.. I’m really not)
But yes, sad news about the studio closures. I reckon we’ll be hearing a lot more in the next few months about closures and mergers.
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They haven’t really done anything yet. Could still blow up the world!
I’ve been having wet dreams about this happening for several years now. [/quote:ae81845528]
Speaking of which, as BCFESupermario pointed out to me, everyone seen this?
http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
Apologies for going off subject, speaking of which……
Sorry to hear about NCSoft in Brighton, when I was in Brighton they just opened up their development studio, now about a year later they close it. Seems odd, wonder if the big companys are seeing something that we arent.
Also Read this in Gamespy:
"Microsoft announced that the closure was for financial reasons — but nonetheless, the Ensemble Studios leadership would remain around to form a new studio under the Microsoft umbrella and most employees who didn’t move to the new studio would be offered similar positions elsewhere within Microsoft.
The move confuses me on two fronts: Firstly, how a successful studio can just get gutted seemingly at random. And second, why the leadership is starting a new studio — what can they do at a different MS studio that they couldn’t accomplish as Ensemble? "
Very odd indeed….. -
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I thought you were referring to the recent multi-billion dollar big bang experiment that some pannicky people thought would create a black hole and engulf the entire world.. Laughing[/quote:16d1f7702d]
Don’t sweat it lads, gordon will save us…..
http://blog.reddit.com/2008/09/crowbar-headcrab-and-half-life-strategy.html
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Jesus Ensemble are gone? What the hell? How can a company making Halo Wars go bankcrupt? Bizarre. So what’s going to happen to Halo Wars now?
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They didn’t go Bankrupt Microsoft have been discussing with the Studio for sometime about it’s future. Not sure about the specifics but it was not a case of the company being Bankrupt. I’ll try and dig up some proper quotes which have been floating around the web.
Most likely it’s a case that MS didn’t feel that keeping Ensemble Studios was a viable solution given their portfolio needs.
So instead of just throwing more cash at the Studio they pulled the plug. I would assume (and this is an assumption) Some talent would be transfered to another studio.
While it’s a shame and best of luck to all those developers who are job hunting. Hopefully it will mean that MS will be able to get the talent from Ensemble without having to pay $400,000,000 for it…. allowing them to pump that money into new IP.
Although I don’t want Microsoft Game Studio to just be the ‘HALO’ publisher.
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So what’s going to happen to Halo Wars now?[/quote:9674f5988c]
Think they are going under after the release of Halo Wars.
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There is a new start being set up that has a publishing deal with MS. Some staff will go to that Studio.
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Your right its not bankrupacy, its most likely "Streaming line" making each MGS profitable in its own right. RTS dont really sell on consoles IMO. PC market has narrowed alot also in recent time.
Also one angle is that Analyst are saying that MS and Sony are de-investing in 1st party support for their console in an effort to re-coop some of the money lost on the consoles early days. Thus shut downing\ramping down internal development operations (at least for the medium term). 3rd party is always cheaper.
On the bright side it does mean lots of experience staff are available to work for the rest of us this side of the water ;)
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Don’t sweat it lads, gordon will save us…..
http://blog.reddit.com/2008/09/crowbar-headcrab-and-half-life-strategy.html%5B/quote:bb54b2ce67%5D
He’s already there Pete….he’s already there – Link
As for Ensemble, I was rather surprised however it seems that most of their staff are going to other MG Studios so it’s not too bad I guess.
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Don’t sweat it lads, gordon will save us…..
http://blog.reddit.com/2008/09/crowbar-headcrab-and-half-life-strategy.html%5B/quote:9b88ed6c9e%5D
He’s already there Pete….he’s already there – Link
As for Ensemble, I was rather surprised however it seems that most of their staff are going to other MG Studios so it’s not too bad I guess.[/quote:9b88ed6c9e]
Isnt most of their MGS in settle area. Bit of a journey from Texas (think their either dallas or austin, can never remember).
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True enough actually. I was going to make a comment about there not being many alternatives for those wishing to stay in Texas but after looking into it I was rather shocked to see the sheer number and indeed quality of them. Am I missing something about Texas? :shock:
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ya its always been a centre for games for a while now ;)
Id software, Bioware, Ensemble, NC Soft, Midway, Sony etc. Although middle two of them have recently scaled back or close to shutting up shop.
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There are currently two webcams online at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider)
LINK
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