Split/Second Studio Shutting Down
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
I loved both those games! What happened, did they go over disney's quota for positive reviews? Were they upset that they included wolfmother and pendulum on the soundtrack for pure as opposed to disney's suggestion of Hannah Montana and the jonas brothers?
Just another reason for me to despise Disney. Here's hoping black rock employees get picked up by someone who isn't a moron.
Just another reason for me to despise Disney. Here's hoping black rock employees get picked up by someone who isn't a moron.
Did the games not make profit, or not make enough profit?
I'm not really into racing games(except Rock n' Roll Racing for the SNES) but it's always sad to see another game studio go under.
I'm not really into racing games(except Rock n' Roll Racing for the SNES) but it's always sad to see another game studio go under.
Eh... I'd say they tried and delivered decent, but not compelling games. I can't speak for Pure, but Split/Second didn't have enough tracks and seemed to drag. DLC under a "New Season" banner would have made this game much more viable. I would say that either EA or Activision would have probably taken this route and came out ahead (if Black Ops is any indication, Activision would have definitely done this).
I pulled up some reviews and videos of Pure. For the most part, it's a good game, so long as you're into the genre. Think SSX-ATV. Good variety of tracks and race types and visuals that still hold up 2 years later. Both Codemasters and EA would have probably been better to the game than Disney Interactive. The only catch is that ATV racers are a nitch-of-a-nitch market, as many arcade racing fans (myself included) prefer cars to ATVs. Still, it looked like a good game and was received well by critics, if not the masses.
I can see the team moving en mass to another development studio under a different publisher. They can put out good games, they just need a publisher that is willing to say "okay" to a game that will likely only make a small profit.
Disney can do what it wants with its money.... they are only spending the money from selling mickey mouse hats right now lol
I think they actually were working on the sequel but got cancelled in November when the studio laid off some employees and got it's budget cut, after that they felt they just didn't have the resources to continue development on the sequel.Raiyan 1.0 said:
One of the few racing games that truly deserved a sequel IMO
The only racing dev whose games I played. I especially loved Pure. Sad.
Your comment is completely void of argument. Get out of here, troll.INF1NIT3 D00M said:
Well, fuck. Will Disney ever stop destroying things I like? No more Spectacular Spiderman, no more SS and no more Pure. And they closed it because ? Oh, that's right. They said 'fuck them' and decided to jump the freemium content bandwagon. Way to reward a company whose games made you money and sold over a million copies even if they advertised them poorly. But when it came to Epic Mickey, oooooooh, they said, let's be dickherds and get stuck to the past.
This is something Extra Credits should tackle.
Why do I have to argue with you? I don't want to. Hell, I'm not even trying to troll, I'm just expressing my (highly negative) opinion. I attacked no one and invited no comments. If you ask me, both of those games were crap sandwiches. My opinion is non-negotiable, and is neither right nor wrong. However, since you invited me to "Elaborate or GTFO"...katsabas said:
This studio couldn't get collision detection right if they had the programmers from Codemasters AND Nadeo come visit and write their code for them (though Nadeo is technically a bad example). If you want a better explosive racing series, play Burnout Revenge. It's pretty much the same game. Explosive cars, high speed racing, TV as a framing device. Burnout has more levels, more game modes, and overall better gameplay. The controls are actually responsive in Burnout, as an added bonus.
Pure isn't as bad as Split/Second, because it actually had some great ATV customization and the tracks were really well designed. The main problem is just that the ATVs themselves feel slow, a cardinal sin in a genre that is by definition all about going fast. In addition the collision detection either kills you when you land a trick perfectly, or allows you to hit the ground mid-trick and keep driving. It doesn't know what to do when you land somewhere other than flat ground, so some sections that look drivable or sit in plain sight either kill you or put up invisible walls.
At the end of the day, I want more for my $60 than a lame Burnout ripoff or a mediocre ATV racer with buggy collision.
And just FYI:
- Disney has had people making free to play games since before it was cool. Toontown, 2003. They weren't the first, but even if they were "jumping on a bandwagon" at some point, that point was 8 years ago.
- Yahtzee already reviewed Split/Second, and I have similar complaints.
- Extra Credits is a great series and there are a lot of subjects that I would like to hear them talk about. The shutdown of Black Rock studios is not one of those subjects. It's an inconsequential blip on the radar of the gaming community. Perhaps you don't mean Black Rock studios then? Perhaps you want them to make a scathing video bemoaning the fate of video games due to Free to Play systems. Problem is, you'd be disappointed. Somehow I don't see them hating Free to Play as much as you do. It's a pretty decent system that allows everyone to play, makes money for the creators and allows those with the cash on hand to make their character an individual. If you were to ask me where it works, I'd point you at Team Fortress 2. You'd be hard-pressed to call that game pay-to-win.
-This is a public forum. I've expressed my opinion and you've expressed yours. I don't really want to converse with you any more than I already have. I'm going elsewhere. Whether you decide to get really angry and defend your beloved studio to an indifferent audience or if you just declare "haters gonna hate" is none of my concern.
INF1NIT3 D00M said:
INF1NIT3 D00M said:
This ain't about Yahtzee. At least he already knew that you have to present a reason for which a game is not good. Your previous comment had nothing of this sort. And this being a public forum has nothing to do with the fact that your statement lacked depth. So yeah, my comment was pretty much 'elaborate'. The GTFO was cause I was sure you wouldn't respond. So, my bad.INF1NIT3 D00M said:
They made do with what they had. Criterion (whose games I absolutely love, from Airblade to every Burnout) is owned by EA who is all about games. Blackrock is owned by Disney, for whom games are a low priority, even with ToonTown. I went in with not very high expectations and what I got surprised me. Job well done.INF1NIT3 D00M said:
The one point I agree with is the collision detection cause yeah, it could have used a bit more refining. Other than that, I loved the tricks in Pure and the gameplay mechanics in Split Second.
That's what trailers and 'not buying on day 1' is for. Also, when calling something a rip-off, you have to be aware of the subject material. Again, that's where trailers come in. You were aware of the subject material, deemed it a rip-off and after that, you still went out and bought the game ? That's logic.INF1NIT3 D00M said:
I am not pissed at the F2P trend. I bought Portal for free. I am pissed cause Disney had something decent in their hands and decided not to support it anymore (again!). If you have red the article on Eurogamer, they decided to publish games through other means and not through Blackrock. Games that the studio could easily handle.INF1NIT3 D00M said:
The material I want EC to tackle isn't Blackrock's closure. Rather the whole 'incorporate mismanagement' topic.INF1NIT3 D00M said:
That's the second thing we agree on.INF1NIT3 D00M said: