Radical Entertainment Goes Under

[Professor Plum]

I called this! With Prototype 1 they tried to do too much and perfected nothing (such as the combat system) when Prototype 2 was announced I was basically hoping for a polished version of Prototype 1, but instead they just jammed in more random crap.

 

[Vrach]

Nooooooooo! That sucks arse, both for the studio/jobs lost and the lost Prototype seqels. Prototype was fun as hell (still waiting on that PC release for P2). It wasn't exactly a masterpiece in terms of story, but it had some potential (loved the small bits of cutscenes storytelling bit, was a cool mechanic for delivering the story's background) and the gameplay was one of the most fun in all the games I've ever played.

It's a bloody shame

 

[tautologico]

Lets see here:

Game budgets are expanding at basically a linear rate, while sales figures are stagnant or falling....

Clearly the only solution to this is to gut every studio not making a CoD game.

I just read from some guy on twitter: "With Radical's closing, Activision now owns 12 internal development studios. 6 of those are working on Call of Duty products".

Don't know if this is true, but if it is, that's something quite interesting.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Oh good. After all the shit EA and THQ have pulled in the last year, people needed a reminder of why Activision is evil too.

Valve, seriously, just start like five spinoff studios and hire everyone who the other guys lay off to staff them. You can totally afford it.

 

[The_Waspman]

I do feel bad for those who have lost their jobs because of this (though it does sound like at least some of them are being shifted onto other thing) and wish them all the best.

Right, now that thats all the good karmic stuff out of the way...

I read this headline and I'll admit, I actually felt joy. Pure unadulterated joy. Because to me, Prototype is hands down, the single worst game in the universe. Mere words alone are incapable of describing just how much loathing I have for that game, and when i heard it was getting a sequel... That was my breaking point, when I handed in my resignation from the human race.

Still, best of luck finding new jobs all you developer folks. Not an easy thing to do in this climate of developer-cide thats going on...

 

[vxicepickxv]

Lets see here:

Game budgets are expanding at basically a linear rate, while sales figures are stagnant or falling....

Clearly the only solution to this is to gut every studio not making a CoD game.

I just read from some guy on twitter: "With Radical's closing, Activision now owns 12 internal development studios. 6 of those are working on Call of Duty products".

Don't know if this is true, but if it is, that's something quite interesting.

This is a list of owned Activision studios. Beachhead Studios, Beenox, DemonWare, FreeStyleGames, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Neversoft, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys For Bob, Treyarch, and Vicarious Visions.

That's all 12 of them. Of the 12, I know at least 3 of them are working on CoD games, and another 3 wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Frostbite3789]

And the developers who made The Simpsons: Hit and Run are gone.

I will be anticipating the time, when the Call Of Duty franchise stops making money, just to see how Activision reacts when they realise that they shut down all of the developers, who could be making them money now.

They'll still have WoW and whatever else Blizzard pumps out that will sell millions of copies. Because they still somehow have a lot of goodwill.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Lets see here:

Game budgets are expanding at basically a linear rate, while sales figures are stagnant or falling....

Clearly the only solution to this is to gut every studio not making a CoD game.

I just read from some guy on twitter: "With Radical's closing, Activision now owns 12 internal development studios. 6 of those are working on Call of Duty products".

Don't know if this is true, but if it is, that's something quite interesting.

This is a list of owned Activision studios. Beachhead Studios, Beenox, DemonWare, FreeStyleGames, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Neversoft, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys For Bob, Treyarch, and Vicarious Visions.

That's all 12 of them. Of the 12, I know at least 3 of them are working on CoD games, and another 3 wouldn't surprise me.

Four, Neversoft was moved to CoD. Outside of that, I can't even say I've heard of any of those studios. And Sledgehammer does CoD stuff.

 

[EHKOS]

AHAHAHAHA I DANCE ON THEIR GRAVE! They mutilated the remains of Crash, I have no remorse. TINY THE TIGER IS NOT A FEMININE MIKE TYSON.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

Maybe Activision just doesn't know when to release games?

The released Prototype 1 a month after inFamous came out, and people couldn't tell the difference between the two.

Then they release Prototype 2 the month before two of the most anticipated games of the year (perhaps of the decade). If I know I'm going to be spending $120+ on new games in May, I'm less inclined to buy a new game at $60 in April.

 

[Xman490]

This is what happens when you try to get a game sold like how AAA games flooded the market half a year before your release. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.

It's too bad, really, since P2 is a satisfying-enough game to be put in ranks with Skyrim and MW3. And now Prototype won't get the much smarter sequel that it deserves (for Heller being a brute).

 

[Nurb]

It's the corporate age of gaming, All the gamers at the end of the 90's saw this coming:
-You let yourself be bought out
-You're told you'll have "complete freedom to make games"
-Finish a game
-Publisher starts to give orders
-You churn out sequels until people are sick of it
-Your studio is closed down
-Employees are recycled into other areas or laid off

It's going to happen with Bioware, just wait until EA decides they're no longer useful. They already showed signs of meddling in the middle of DA:O development with EA making them put in in-game adverts and day-one DLC, then completely taking over with directives over DA2 and it's "accessable", "streamlined" hack-n-slash changes.

Big publishers are bad news. The people that make games are no longer the ones making decisions about large portions and key features. The sooner EA, Activision, and Ubisoft collapse or go bankrupt the better

 

[Jhooud]

That's a shame, I really did enjoy the Prototype games. Here's another hope that everyone lands on their feet.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Damn, that's a shame. I've really enjoyed the Prototype franchise. Hell, Prototype 2 is a contender for my favorite game so far this year.

Does Activision even have good reason for firing them? From what I heard Prototype 2 sold quite well. And personally, I think Prototype 2 was nearly everything a sequel should be. It improved on most of the grievances I had with the first game, and it was a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Activision wanted to remind everyone that they are still in that "who's more evil" competition with EA.

This could be good news. A lot of studios are closing down these days. Mostly because of douchebag publishers. It will make other studios think twice before they sell out.

 

[Callate]

This is the future. We can't keep this up. The big companies buying up studios and then crushing them into paste when they can't deliver revenues that keep their hulking masters flush... We've seen this over and over again, especially in the last decade. Something has to change, or the AAA market is going to die. I'm not even entirely sure I'll miss it anymore.

 

[Justin Harris]

This is what happens when you limit the platforms that a game is supposed to come out on. I like many other people pre-ordered for PC only to find out it was going to be released three months after the console release. I like most other intelligent people said, "Screw this noise, I wont support this type of behavior. " and canceled my pre-order. I imagine many others did the same.

Sad that the company has gone the way of the second rate joker, Heath Ledger, but perhaps their future business plans wont be "screw the pc gamers" at their new jobs around activision.

 

[Dandark]

This saddens me since I really enjoyed the Prototype games even if the second one destroyed any chance of it having a good story, the gameplay was still fun.

 

[dragonnewby]

Lets see here:

Game budgets are expanding at basically a linear rate, while sales figures are stagnant or falling....

Clearly the only solution to this is to gut every studio not making a CoD game.

I just read from some guy on twitter: "With Radical's closing, Activision now owns 12 internal development studios. 6 of those are working on Call of Duty products".

Don't know if this is true, but if it is, that's something quite interesting.

This is a list of owned Activision studios. Beachhead Studios, Beenox, DemonWare, FreeStyleGames, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Neversoft, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys For Bob, Treyarch, and Vicarious Visions.

That's all 12 of them. Of the 12, I know at least 3 of them are working on CoD games, and another 3 wouldn't surprise me.

Neversoft(making new COD titles), Sledgehammer games(making new COD titles), Beachhead Studios(working on COD: ELITE), Raven Software(Making COD DLC), Treyarch(making DLC and new COD titles), Infinity Ward(Making new COD titles and DLC). Six right there.