Hudson Entertainment Closing Down

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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Hudson Entertainment Closing Down



An insider at Hudson Entertainment has broken the news that his company is closing its doors following Konami's purchase of Hudson Soft.

This isn't a good week for those who work in the videogame industry. First, there was the news that <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.263289-Harmonix-Layoffs-Confirmed>Harmonix had been hit with layoffs and now it turns out that Hudson Entertainment is shutting down.

The company's closure is due to Konami buying Hudson Soft, the parent company of Hudson Entertainment. This isn't entirely surprising, since Konami already has offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and presumably wouldn't need Hudson Entertainment to publish games in the US.

According to a blog post by Morgan Haro, the brand manager for Hudson Entertainment: "It was revealed today that all of Hudson's previously planned projects have been canceled and that our office will be closing it's doors at the end of February ... There apparently won't be any need for the talents within the San Mateo offices of Hudson Entertainment."

Morseo, Haro talked about how a factor in the closure was the difficulty in bringing Japanese games over to Western markets:

As the industry continues to march towards the drum of Western game development, Hudson became for me, a symbol of why Japan has fallen behind when it comes to bringing world-wide hits to gamers. The act of producing and developing a game in Japan, and then bringing that game over to the US to compete in an increasingly competitive market is more and more, and incredibly tough proposition. A challenge in itself to be sure, but to compound the issue, minimal communication and stifled collaboration seems to be hampering the chances of success. In previous generations, developers only had so many factors to worry about to produce a title that meets a general level of acceptance. But as we, as gamers, became more accustomed to games that demanded not only more from the player, and in turn, more from the developer, many companies seem to be having a hard time keeping up.

It should be noted that Hudson Soft itself is not closing down and will keep its offices in Japan. Hopefully everyone at Hudson Entertainment will be able to land on their feet.

Source: Joystiq



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Dec 14, 2009
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That's news to me. I thought they went out of businees years ago. I haven't see a game with their logo on it in a very long time.
 

Andy03

New member
Oct 9, 2010
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NOOOOOOOOOO! Where will I get my Mario Party games? But in all seriousness, I hope that things go well for them.
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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Do note that it's only Hudson's US division that's affected. The Japanese side (which developed the Mario Party and Bomberman franchises, and probably most of the games with the Hudson label) is unaffected by this move. I'd imagine Konami's US division will be taking over Hudson Ent's roles.

Daystar Clarion said:
That's news to me. I thought they went out of businees years ago. I haven't see a game with their logo on it in a very long time.
In the week where Zero Punctuation reviews a Hudson game...
 

Azaraxzealot

New member
Dec 1, 2009
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this is all Activision's fault! if they weren't here making the market be crowded with shooters trying to be like Modern Warfare then we would have more companies out there actually making good games!

Why can't they just not make a Cash-In of Duty game for a year? or two? or ever again?
 

Sabrestar

New member
Apr 13, 2010
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I hope all the affected employees make out okay. And I hope good things start happening for Hudson Japan. I'd kill to have another Kororinpa (but like the first one, without the stupid ant nonsense).
 

Gindil

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Nov 28, 2009
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Wait, what?

Who's Hudson?

Seriously, it's been so long I forgot they had made games...
 

ryo02

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Oct 8, 2007
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hmm according to wikipedia these guys had a hand in bloody roar ... I liked those games
 

Aura Guardian

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Apr 23, 2008
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There goes bloody roar and Mario Party 9 and Bomberman...


Delusibeta said:
Do note that it's only Hudson's US division that's affected. The Japanese side (which developed the Mario Party and Bomberman franchises, and probably most of the games with the Hudson label) is unaffected by this move. I'd imagine Konami's US division will be taking over Hudson Ent's roles.
Well that's good.


But...I do blame them for the crappy Deca Sports Series for the Wii and Xbox 360...
 

mjc0961

YOU'RE a pie chart.
Nov 30, 2009
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vansau said:
This isn't a good week for those who work in the videogame industry. First, there was the news that <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.263289-Harmonix-Layoffs-Confirmed>Harmonix had been hit with layoffs and now it turns out that Hudson Entertainment is shutting down.
And, of course, it's only Tuesday. :(

Best of luck to all the people who find themselves looking for work because of this.
 

ProjectTrinity

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Apr 29, 2010
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Pfft. I don't have or care about any Hudson ga.......

*Memories of Bloody Roar 2 and Primal Fury*

Now they'll never make a perfected Bloody Roar game. ;_;
 

tunderball

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Jul 10, 2010
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This is quite sad, I loved Mario Party back in the day and they were responsible for many a good afternoons gaming with friends. You guys have my eternal thanks and I hope everybody there lands on their feet.
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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ProjectTrinity said:
Pfft. I don't have or care about any Hudson ga.......

*Memories of Bloody Roar 2 and Primal Fury*

Now they'll never make a perfected Bloody Roar game. ;_;
*offers hug* yeah, they had to make least one more, and a good one , to make up for 4
(still have my copy of 3 though :3)
not to mention making a REAL bomberman game >.> not that crap that was shat out a few years back