In what is clearly a record for an already over-saturated market, All Points Bulletin, the hybrid MMO/shooter from the beleaguered Realtime Worlds, has closed down after less than three short months in the wild. The internet already has a compelling lawsuit-load of evidence of the many failures at Realtime Worlds that lead up to this […]
Tag: Credit Crunch
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Smile = Wiped: GRIN closes
Following the closure of their satellite studios earlier in the month and various rumours regarding their status, Bo & Ulf Andersson (aka. The Brothers GRIN) have announced that the doors at the Swedish studio are closed for good. The main reason cited is various publishers withholding cash, possibly due the mediocre sales and reception of […]
Deadline Games, purveyor of the fun Total Overdose, the disappointingly average Watchmen: The End is Nigh and the stillborn Faith and a .45, have supposedly filed for bankruptcy. The news comes on the eve of much speculation about the companies future and the confusion about whether the second episode will hit the PC or not. […]
Gameindustry.biz carries the unfortunate news that Nintendo are too raise the trade price for the Wii in the UK to the order of £18-20 (from its current RRP of £179.99), despite the console making a profit from day one and selling more boxes than, well, boxes of boxes! The excuse? The collapsing value of the […]
GameIndustry.biz has a very interesting editorial article on how the dire economic situation™ might stifle creativity in the industry following the risk associated with commercial failure of products based on newly developed IPs such as Dead Space & Mirror’s Edge. Luckily, there’s light at the end of the tunnel as, with the avenues for distribution […]
Despite everyone’s misgivings and apathy towards Haze, I don’t think anyone was happy to see Free Radical go to the wall. The company was one of the first victims of the economic downturn and has been operating in administration on a skeleton staff whilst a buyer was sought. Well, now one has, and it’s everyones […]
Earlier in the month, we reported that Crystal Dynamics were downsized and in December, Free Radical & Factor 5 disappeared, amongst others. Since then, there have been significant rumours of layoffs at larger companies including Microsoft, EA and Sega. Unfortunately, these days, rumours have a habit of coming true. Kotaku are keeping track of all […]
You know there’s something not quite right with an industry when a product can sell (not just ship, mind you) 1.5 million individual copies across 6 major platforms and it’s performance is deemed ‘unsatisfactory’… Unfortunately, such a fate has befallen the latest Tomb Raider game, Underworld. Despite receiving above average reviews (in spite of some […]
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Zavvi console sale – update
Destructoid is reporting that Virgin Megastores Zavvi is now pumping out Xbox 360 Arcade SKUs in its retail outlets for a Sainsbury’s equalling £99. The more attractive/feature-complete Premium SKUs are going for £149 & l33t Elites for a snip under £200 too. The rival PS3 is also coasting at £269.99, which means it’s still cheaper […]
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Free Radical closing
Gotta love recessions… There’s been no official word yet, but it seems the economic downturn has hit another developer. Free Radical, developers of the Timesplitters series, the brilliant Second Sight and the (unfortunately) thoroughly mediocre Haze, have apparantly been taken too the wall. Sad too see people go, but after Haze’s frosty critical reception, i’m […]