Sony closes projects at UK studios
London, Liverpool and Evolution Studios all see titles closed or streamlined; Sony refuses to comment on redundancies
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that it is to close or cancel a number of games across its UK studios.
"It has been decided that production on a small number of projects within London Studio, Studio Liverpool, and Evolution Studios will be streamlined or closed due to a portfolio review and project prioritisation," said the company in a statement.
"This decision was made following an internal review of all games and it was deemed that with the incredibly strong list of exclusive first party titles coming up both this year and in the near future, resource should be reallocated to enhance those projects closer to completion.
Despite canning projects in development, Sony said that the UK was still an essential contributor to its Worldwide Studios group.
"The affected first party studios have been and will continue to be vital assets within the WWS family, and have a history of producing genre defining games such as MotorStorm, WipEout, SingStar and EyePet. This decision will have no impact on the role that our first party studios will play in the future of all PlayStation platforms."
Sony would not comment on the amount of staff made redundant by the move.
The move comes as the format holder releases its high-profile racing game MotorStorm: Apocalypse next week, which is already receiving positive reviews in the specialist press and creating a buzz amongst consumers on social networks.
GamesIndustry.biz understands that staff were informed of the decision this afternoon. Sony Liverpool was also hit with restructuring at the begining of last year.
And yeah...now my Colony Wars hopes have been officially dashed.
Seriously good luck to those involved... Been "lucky" enough to been given plenty of warning the both times I've had to face this, hope everyone gets whats fair. :-(
Best of luck, guys... :/
I think that's a bit unfair - what about LittleBigPlanet 2 barely two months back? How about Infamous 2, MotorStorm Apocalypse, God of War 3, Heavy Rain, LocoRoco, the Move releases, or high-quality PSN games like Flower, echochrome and Hustle Kings. What about Journey and The Last Guardian; both looking incredibly beautiful and imaginative. Do you really think if Sony didn't care about anything but shooting games they would fund a development studio like Team Ico and allow them 5 years plus to work on games that are clearly never going to be massive sellers?
I mean, there are plenty of shooters in their line-up, but I think they also have an excellent library of 'risky' releases and niche genre representations. I know it's often perceived as cool to hate Sony, but out of the Big Three I believe they have perhaps the best and certainly the most consistent overall line up of software.
And good luck to all the guys from Liverpool and Runcorn, devs, QA, localisation...
Otherwise agree with Terence.
It is unfair. I'm being unfair, because this is an unfair business. It's not cool to hate Sony, but it is unfortunate to see this cycle [didn't this happen to Studio Liverpool last year?] being the norm. Why is this the business model? These guys are talented beyond belief and I'm hoping the games you listed they'll more than likely be shifted to...but hopefully something new and sustainable will come of this.
Also noticing the games you listed have numbers behind them or are 'spiritual sequels'. Feeling history repeat.
Maybe the headline is just a bit misleading and people didn`t notice the closes PROJECTS and just read it as closes UK studios, maybe "Sony cancels projects at UK studios" would have been a bit less confusing for some people. :)
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Private on 9th March 2011 8:55pm
Actually, I know a couple of the guys at the Sony studios who have said that if they're selected they'll leave games, precisely because of the lack of job security. I know one person who's been made redundant twice in a year (not at Sony though).
The problem with the industry is it's cyclic, I guess we're hopefully near the upturn in that cycle. At least we've got the latest generation of studios starting up.
I've also had several senior guys telling me they'll make the jump to defence, simulation or banking if they get made redundant once more. I work with a number of companies in these areas, and they bloody love games developers. It's sad that games professionals have to give up their passion and chosen profession just so they can have some modicum of security these days. Good luck to anyone affected.
I'm still hopeful some extra measures, maybe including tax breaks, will come in the budget. I get the impression the government has been stung by criticism that they have no plan for growth, and have decided to focus on those industries that can be winners. Like video games.
In all others sectors and I will use IT as an example, a core team is employed permanently and everyone else contracts, it works for everyone as thier is transparency and the contractors get paid more but accept that they will need to move around to a certain degree.
At the moment there are movers to this model (EA for one) Rare were another I have seen and once it becomes more common place then more contarcts will be available so people can move from project to project, gaining more experience and the Games companies can hire the right people, at the right time for the specific role they need.
I know everyone wont like this but for the UK to be competitive it is the reality. Off course I aiming this more at the makers of the boxed titles, MMO makers, Social Games and Mobile will have a more fluid development cycle so are more likely a hire a more Permanent continguent workforce.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Lewis Brown on 10th March 2011 12:00pm
Get into web and social games or, if you have gullible investors, mid-level PC indie titles. That's where the action is. There will be a new console market paradigm fairly soon, but it's not going to look like this one and the sort of games that everyone has grown to know and love over the last 15 years is going to be marginalized.
This is what all the big-bill movie directors felt like just after Cleopatra tanked. Boo-fucking-hoo.
Oh, yeah, and thank yer government. There's no way in hell you can justify developing big, risky, expensive games in the UK anymore. Not when the Canadian government is essentially giving away money to make Montreal into gaming's Hollywood. Will be lots of fun when those tax cuts start expiring, however, as everyone is going to either move again (this time to some opportunistic Asian nation, like Singapore) or fold completely.
I cross my fingers for my former colleagues in Liverpool (and not only for them!). I hope the number of affected people will be minimum.
There are a few development hot spots in the UK, but nothing to the scale that's needed to support this contractor model across the industry. I believe it comes down to geography. Not many people are going to want to keep moving around the country every 12 to 18 months to get new work. Especially for the lack of job security and benefits that you get as a 'contractor'.
Or move to another country where the markets are better.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dean Hulton on 14th March 2011 10:48am