Kid Icarus: Uprising Studio Closes Down

[Timothy Chang]

Kid Icarus: Uprising Studio Closes Down

Potential Smash Bros. team disbands after a single game release.


The video game industry isn't the most stable and consistent environment to work in, given the number of successful studios being shuttered abruptly and assimilated into other locations [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118356-Max-Payne-3-Studio-Closing-Its-Doors] (or worse). Don't look now, because another studio has closed its doors for the final time, adding to the list of closures for the year. Project Sora, the studio run by Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai, is no longer in the business.

The closure came unexpectedly since the original assumption was to have Project Sora work with Namco Bandai [http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/archive/06-21-2012/message] on the upcoming 3DS and Wii U Smash Bros. games. Now, all that's left of Project Sora is a message on its website saying it will be shut off on July 31st. It appears that parent company Sora Ltd. will now be working with Namco on the Smash Bros. titles. Nintendo are yet to comment on the surprise closure and the fate of its 30 workers.

Project Sora was established in 2009 in response to the success of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The studio's one and only title was the critically acclaimed Kid Icarus: Uprising; it earned a perfect 40/40 score from Japanese publication Famitsu, where it rubs shoulders with the likes of Bayonetta and Skyward Sword.

It's disheartening to see the young studio turn off its lights, despite its impressive debut. Smash Bros. fans will be content to know, however, that their sequels are still in development.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5924999/smash-bros-creators-studio-closes-down]

Permalink

 

[PortalThinker113]

...What?!?!?!

Why? What the hell? I was under the apparently erroneous assumption that Kid Icarus: Uprising sold quite well... A friend of mine and I pre-ordered the game and went to pick it up on launch day, and the person working at Gamestop said that our two pre-orders were the last two copies they had in the whole store- every other one had been sold. It wasn't even that late in the day.

Damnit... I loved Project Sora... This sucks. Well, hopefully all of those team members will quickly find new employment. I can imagine they'll go to work on Smash 4 for now, but they will probably need other jobs after that...

 

[TJC]

dafuq? Kid Icarus was finally the one game the 3DS was worth getting for and I still play it.
Just because Kid Icarus didn't print money like yet another fucking pokemon, project sora has to shut down? I know it was ridiculous to hope for a sequel to Kid Icarus but somehow the notion of DLC was still lingering in the back of my head. Now even that is gone. :C

Hope this is just a bureaucracy issue and the team gets taken wholely into another studio.

 

[Darkmantle]

what the fuck is this bullshit?

What possible reason could there be for this??

I'm waiting for an update!

 

[Worgen]

How the hell does this work? Kid Icarus was awesome, aside from really needing a mouse and keyboard but it was still awesome and sold pretty well as I recall.

 

[robert01]

What the fuck, why are studios closing down so fast, Kid Icarus sold rather well. What is going on? I'll be picking up a copy of KI:Uprising as soon as I get my 3DS in a few days.

Why? Because AAA gaming is starting to collapse upon itself. The weight of creating these games is getting too heavy. With the size of budgets these days even little titles like this one need to sell a large number of copies to break even and turn a profit.

The only game developers that are laughing their way to the bank right now are those in the indie scene. Everyone else is scurrying around trying to figure out ways to keep the investors happy.

 

[Trishbot]

I've heard that Project Sora, the team that made Kid Icarus, was created for the SOLE purpose of making and releasing Kid Icarus. Once they were done, they'd be re-absorbed back into other Nintendo projects.

At least, I hope that's the case. There was way too much talent, charm, and passion from that team to let it all go to waste.

 

[DTWolfwood]

very concerning news. all these closures. Thought Kid Icarus was gonna be the hot piece of property for the 3DS wtf happened?

 

[Clearing the Eye]

They just got reabsorbed back into Nintendo--where they came from. This isn't news.

 

[BX3]

Huh. Didn't think people would be this outraged given what a tongue lashing Brawl and Kid Icarus regularly recieve on this site. Anyway, I read this news this morning on another forum and...

I've heard that Project Sora, the team that made Kid Icarus, was created for the SOLE purpose of making and releasing Kid Icarus. Once they were done, they'd be re-absorbed back into other Nintendo projects.

This is actually similar to the first few posts I read concerning the news on said forum. I'm guessing this is the case. I doubt they'd shut it down because they were scared or because it's not Mario or some other "end-of-unique-gaming-is-nigh" brouhaha.

Wasn't Sora just a small team Sakurai put together anyway?
---------------------------------------

Capcha: "One Hit Wonder"
That's cold, Solvemedia. That's real cold.

 

[Dresos]

That's to bad, I really enjoyed Kid Icarus.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Is everyone stupid or something? Kotaku said this was the studio that made Brawl and now this!??!

Okay, let's set this straight:

Project Sora and Sora Ltd are TWO DIFFERENT COMPANIES. Project SORA was created JUST For Kid Icarus: Uprising from Sora Ltd employees as well as other Nintendo staff. This studio was only meant to exist for this game and this game only

****

 

[Ympulse]

That's what you get for putting out a horrible, unintuitive piece of vomit like Kid Icarus.

How it got past pre-alpha in that state, I'll never know.

Catchpa: eight ball

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

FUCK! I really like Kid Icarus uprising. It wasn't prefect but it was something new for once.

 

[medv4380]

I guess they were hopping Kid Icarus would be in the 1M plus category by now. It may have sold well but did it meet their expectations given who was on the team?

 

[BX3]

Is everyone stupid or something? Kotaku said this was the studio that made Brawl and now this!??!

Okay, let's set this straight:

Project Sora and Sora Ltd are TWO DIFFERENT COMPANIES. Project SORA was created JUST For Kid Icarus: Uprising from Sora Ltd employees as well as other Nintendo staff. This studio was only meant to exist for this game and this game only

****

You mean 2 companies that technically have the same name got mixed up? Holy shit, Kotaku's retarded.

But yeah, the rest of it is pretty much nail-on-head territory.