UPDATE: Fallen Earth Developer Icarus Studios Closes Up Shop

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
20,364
0
0
UPDATE: Fallen Earth Developer Icarus Studios Closes Up Shop



Icarus Studios, developer of post-apocalyptic MMOG Fallen Earth, has flown too close to the sun and lost its wings.

The Escapist has learned that North Carolina-based developer "restructuring" [http://www.icarusstudios.com/] of the studio, an inside source tells us that the reality is much more severe.

According to our source, employees were asked to meet together at approximately 10:30 this morning, where they were told that the studio would be closing, effective immediately. They could remain until approximately 1 PM, say their goodbyes, clean up their things and collect a final paycheck, but that was that. Our source also says that much of the equipment (motion-capture cameras and the like) had apparently been sold.

While Icarus had worked on other products in the past - notably the relatively well-received iPhone game adaptation of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter - its main thrust was post-apocalyptic MMO/FPS Fallen Earth, set in a ruined Grand Canyon area after a series of disasters strike the United States.

Fallen Earth launched last September to mediocre reviews, currently sitting at a 71 on Metacritic. One can only imagine that the game simply didn't perform well enough to keep the lights on at Icarus. The aforementioned forum post from community manager Tiggs assures players that the game will continue to operate despite the "restructuring," but it's hard to see how it could bounce back from what is effectively the shuttering of the entire development studio.

It's always a tragedy when a studio goes out of business like Icarus apparently has - especially since Icarus, like The Escapist, had its headquarters here in North Carolina's Research Triangle.

The best of luck to all those affected, and we at The Escapist hope you land on your feet soon enough.

Update: Icarus has contacted The Escapist [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100381-Icarus-Studios-Responds-to-Closure-Report] to address the claims in the report from our source.

Permalink
 

tomtom94

aka "Who?"
May 11, 2009
3,373
0
0
The funny thing is, I saw tons of adverts for that game but ended up none the wiser as to what it actually was.

That said, it's never good to see a developer go under, they can now but hope.
 

Poomanchu745

New member
Sep 11, 2009
1,582
0
0
Sucks to see a dev close shop and sucks to all the people that play Fallen Earth. An MMO without constant updates = one that will fall apart quickly. Guessing the Fallen Earth servers will be taken down within 5 months.
 

Keava

New member
Mar 1, 2010
2,010
0
0
Quite a shame. Even tho the game wasnt perfect by any means and had plenty of shortcomings back when i tried it it seemed to be evolving in good direction and in the core idea was fun. Apparently something didnt worked out as planned, maybe some bad decisions were made that drove players away.
Really shame ot see a non-fantasy mmo go down, its already a dying breed
 

johannmaximus

New member
Feb 2, 2010
18
0
0
Fallen Earth was pretty good in my opinion. I'm surprised Icarus Studios has folded. Best of luck to all involved, and hopefully somebody will support Fallen Earth before that too goes down forever.
 

ZippyDSMlee

New member
Sep 1, 2007
3,959
0
0
What no decries of piracy? Could be the inability to make the sale to the public(or in some publisher owned studios not make a triple profit) is the always the main reason behind closures?
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
20,364
0
0
ZippyDSMlee said:
What no decries of piracy? Could be the inability to make the sale to the public(or in some publisher owned studios not make a triple profit) is the always the main reason behind closures?
MMOGs are very difficult to pirate.
 

Femaref

New member
May 4, 2008
186
0
0
ZippyDSMlee said:
What no decries of piracy? Could be the inability to make the sale to the public(or in some publisher owned studios not make a triple profit) is the always the main reason behind closures?
A company based around an MMO can't really complain about piracy.
 

ZippyDSMlee

New member
Sep 1, 2007
3,959
0
0
John Funk said:
ZippyDSMlee said:
What no decries of piracy? Could be the inability to make the sale to the public(or in some publisher owned studios not make a triple profit) is the always the main reason behind closures?
MMOGs are very difficult to pirate.
Not quite my point dear. ^_~ (besides wow is easily pirated these days)


My point is if I have to spell it out piracy is oblivious to the process of selling and gaining a profit from the public, IE to many "what if's" and "maybe's".
 

Frapple

New member
Sep 7, 2007
222
0
0
Almost bought Fallen Earth on the D2D sale, phew!

Loved the trial but never got into it.
 

Dafeaz

New member
Apr 30, 2010
1
0
0
Hi. Just registered to say you might want to re-check your sources, Mr. Funk. Having spoken to one of the lead developers (one who was not let go), Icarus is not closing down. Yes, it's not in the best financial position, and it did let go a bunch of its employees (estimates based on anecdotal evidence cap at about 80%) but it's still afloat.

Edit: And according to all sources, patch 1.4 is still going out on schedule. Development is still continuing, albeit at a slowed pace.
 

Keava

New member
Mar 1, 2010
2,010
0
0
ZippyDSMlee said:
Not quite my point dear. ^_~ (besides wow is easily pirated these days)


My point is if I have to spell it out piracy is oblivious to the process of selling and gaining a profit from the public, IE to many "what if's" and "maybe's".
While its true MMOs are not really that much harder to pirate than anything else, pirating really barely affects the mmo market. Most people that want to actually play the mmos know that its pointless to turn toprivate servers where you have serious balance issues, lack of content, lack of comunity, lack of proper support etc.
Waste of time and HDD space :p

So yeah. Its pretty obvious the reason of MMO's fail is the fact they didnt manage to carter to enough of players or managed to mess up original idea so much that even most rabid fans decided to call it quits.

With FE it was the fact the game was first based very heavily on crafting lacking developement in other areas and towards late game even crafting was getting very tedious and time consuming with all the scavenging and times required to make anything. (For those that didnt play it, it had simillar system to Eves skill ups, crafting just ticked away a set ammount of real time once you got the mats, could be 1 minute, could be few hours).
I dont know what is/was current state of game but from what i gathered theyd idnt really managed to do enough to lure in bigger playerbase while keeping the current happy.
 

Hurr Durr Derp

New member
Apr 8, 2009
2,558
0
0
I hated Fallen Earth, but it's always sad to see a studio close up. I hope the people involved all land on their feet.
 

fatboy21007

New member
Dec 3, 2009
2
0
0
you do realize ur source was false and the team is still their they did do sum lay offs today but only to fully focus on FE 100% also in another note unless u can 100% prove wat u had said this kinda of statement can actually get this website sued for false imformation. because it can hurt and down a company. just a FYI to ya. before u go saying crap mb u should ask directly instead of hear say. Rumurs always get people into trouble and yes i bet 100% this was an ex pissed off employee who did this.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
20,364
0
0
Dafeaz said:
Hi. Just registered to say you might want to re-check your sources, Mr. Funk. Having spoken to one of the lead developers (one who was not let go), Icarus is not closing down. Yes, it's not in the best financial position, and it did let go a bunch of its employees (estimates based on anecdotal evidence cap at about 80%) but it's still afloat.

Edit: And according to all sources, patch 1.4 is still going out on schedule. Development is still continuing, albeit at a slowed pace.
Icarus has told us the same thing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100381-Icarus-Studios-Responds-to-Closure-Report], yes. At the moment, multiple sources are saying multiple things, so... the truth will come out one way or another.
 

Hashbrick

New member
Mar 20, 2009
135
0
0
fatboy21007 said:
you do realize ur source was false and the team is still their they did do sum lay offs today but only to fully focus on FE 100% also in another note unless u can 100% prove wat u had said this kinda of statement can actually get this website sued for false imformation. because it can hurt and down a company. just a FYI to ya. before u go saying crap mb u should ask directly instead of hear say. Rumurs always get people into trouble and yes i bet 100% this was an ex pissed off employee who did this.
blarg bah blurg, that's all I got out of this. This site can't get sued for "false information" from an article of a rumor or tip-off learn your legal facts before you go spitting off in a rant no one can understand.
 

carpathic

New member
Oct 5, 2009
1,287
0
0
Sad, but perhaps other devs will take the hint and stop being greedy by making only MMO's. Had fallen earth been a release just for my computer/xbox I likely would have bought it, instead, as an mmo...no dice!