Sony to restructure Liverpool studio

But platform holder insists area remains "vital cog in WWS family"; production stopped on a number of projects

Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed that it is in the process of restructuring its Liverpool studio following "project prioritisation" by the Worldwide Studios division.

No details have been released on the number of posts affected, but GamesIndustry.biz understands that the company will look to relocate staff to other studios where possible - but that some redundancies may be necessary.

It is thought that discussions with staff have taken place today - the full public statement is as follows:

"It has been decided that production on a number of projects within Studio Liverpool will cease immediately due to project prioritisation. Our North West Studio Group has been and will continue to be a vital cog in the WWS family, with a history of producing genre defining games such as MotorStorm, WipEout, Formula 1 and WRC and this decision will have no impact of the role that the North West Studio Group will play in the future of all PlayStation platforms."

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Latest comments (33)

Private VIdeo Games 11 years ago

Redundancies?

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Private Industry 11 years ago

That`s a shame, still hope for a proper remake of Destruction Derby (proper as in "PS1 days like" not like the PS2 version) or Colony Wars, after all space opera genre looks rather empty since some time except from infrequent surprises.

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Dave Newhouse Lighter, Bizarre Creations11 years ago

oh dear...

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Show all comments (33)

Paul Ripley Founder, Phasic Labs Ltd.11 years ago

Indeed :(

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Terence Gage Freelance writer 11 years ago

This is a shame; I can only hope that there will be more Wipeout and MotorStorm (very recently started playing Pacific Rift, and enjoying it immensely), and will hold on to the very unlikely prospect that maybe new entries in the G-Police, Rollcage and Colony Wars series will one day be made.

Good luck and best wishes to everyone who gets made redundant.

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Terence Gage on 29th January 2010 1:05pm

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Mark Inman Producer / Director 11 years ago

Incredibly sad, I spent my formative 7 years there under the Psygnosis banner. I still know many good people there, some still in QA and others who've moved into development. A sad day.

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Saehoon Lee Lead technical artist, Kuno Interactive11 years ago

Darn. Another star has fallen

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Paul Ripley Founder, Phasic Labs Ltd.11 years ago

I would estimate about at least 50% of Studio Liverpool has jus been culled (myself included). Hard to work out exact numbers at the moment

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Paul Ripley on 29th January 2010 11:59am

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Fran Mulhern , Recruit3D11 years ago

I've got a really good mate up there, hope he's okay (and his missus).

Good luck to all of you.

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Martin Waterfield Japanese editor, Gamersyde11 years ago

Sorry to hear about the loss of your job Paul...I've got a bunch of friends in the Liverpool studio I'm hoping that they've survived the culling. Best wishes to all it's affected.

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Brendan Tinnelly Client Solutions Manager (Console/MMO), Facebook11 years ago

Very sad news. They've always produced top quality output. Best of luck to all those affected.

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Mark Rowley Technical Director, SEGA Australia11 years ago

Sad news indeed ... Best of luck to everyone there

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Alistair McNally Senior Director of Creative Development, EA BioWare11 years ago

Terrible news - best wishes to all at the studio.

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Steve Hird Senior Concept Artist., THQ Digital Studios UK11 years ago

Sorry to see this. Best wishes to all affected and best wishes to the future of those still at Sony.

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Matthew Hill Head of Recruitment, Specialmove11 years ago

I'm really sorry to hear this news - there's a lot of talented, passionate switched on people at SCEE and I wish you all the best in securing a new role. I'm sure it's a major blow and it will take time to sink in.

No doubt the bars in Liverpool will be particularly busy tonight....

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Nick Sadler11 years ago

Managed to dodge the bullet this time..

Horrible, Horrible.

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Nick Burcombe Games Design Consultant, Playrise Games11 years ago

All the best for the future guys.... I'm guessing that's the end of Wipeout as a franchise...15 years - not many survive that long. At least we made a splash and to be honest F1CE is still a top notch product despite reviewers not getting it. User reviews FTW.

Edited 3 times. Last edit by Nick Burcombe on 15th March 2010 10:12am

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Dr. Chee Ming Wong , Opus Artz Ltd11 years ago

Wishing the best to all you fine folk at SCEE.

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Packy Caruso Project Manager / Italian QA specialist, LocalizArt11 years ago

I agree with Nick, I think that's the end of an important franchise, unfortunately :(
Best of luck to all the guys affected.

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Isaiah Taylor Writer/Photographer 11 years ago

This is going to seem in bad taste, but I've been trying to get in contact with the minds behind Colony Wars for a couple months now [most recently Tim Wright said he'd e-mail you guys] to do an interview, but man...I'm actually pretty floored by this news. There goes my theory of a new Colony Wars.

Best of luck and I'd love to hopefully talk or get some form of contact with you guys in the future.

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Tyler Treat Editor-in-Chief, Brave New Gamer11 years ago

This is terrible. Best of luck to all involved!

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Charles Benjamin Studying Post Graduate Diploma Information and Library Studies, Robert Gordon University11 years ago

the end of the Sony Liverpool studio surely doesn't mean the end necessarily of the franchises for which they are known? I mean IPs such as Wipeout could simply be handled by a different Sony studio. I hope those who lost their jobs find new ones quickly. And I hope a Sony studio does develop new Destruction Derby, Rollcage, G Police, Colony Wars, and Wipeout games for the PSP, PS3, and beyond.

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Nick Burcombe Games Design Consultant, Playrise Games11 years ago

True - Wipeout could continue - but I doubt it would come from that studio. Colony Wars is something that really needs a 1080p/60hz relaunch. That would be truly spectaular on the PS3. Nice big co-op scifi shoot 'em up.....

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Isaiah Taylor Writer/Photographer 11 years ago

Is there any chance of that happening Nick?

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Nick Burcombe Games Design Consultant, Playrise Games11 years ago

Again - probably not from that Studio.

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Isaiah Taylor Writer/Photographer 11 years ago

[crumples papers]

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Ignatius Fernandes Studying Computer Science, Kingston University11 years ago

Getting laid off is probably the worst feeling a person can get. If not one of them.

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Tommy Alvarez Lead Artist, Ubisoft11 years ago

Fuck! It´s always sad to read these kind of news. I expected 2010 to be a better year than 2009, but...
Good luck to everyone involved! Hope you all find a new job soon!

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Isaiah Taylor Writer/Photographer 11 years ago

Well...for what its worth. http://bit.ly/9NY3vU

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Private Industry 11 years ago

Unfortunately that won`t happen Dick as the Crash Bandicoot license is a Vivendi license (funny how Crash Bandicoot and Spyro where quite good games as long as Sony was involved in there development), but there are many Psygnosis games franchises that should be resurrected too many franchises ended with the 32/64 Bit era. Probably one part of the problem for the Liverpool studio could have been that F1 is not anymore developed by Sony and the license went to Codemasters, after all it was a yearly game so that was probably keeping many people busy.

Hope they all find a place somewhere.

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Dick11 years ago

Mr Werner Nemetz But they should at least try to get it back.But i dont understand why they didnt focus on crash it was the only game that brought mario sales down in history of video games

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Jim Webb Executive Editor/Community Director, E-mpire Ltd. Co.11 years ago

Crash brought down sales of Mario titles? I'm intrigued to know how you've come to that conclusion.

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Dick11 years ago

u can see it in any website that shows sale figures when sony had crash as mascot it sold about 1.3 million this is crash bandicoot figure and mario 64 was near about 1.9 million wheras each mario title which has ever released sells about 2.5-3 million no other game had drawn mario sales down except crash even sonic the hedgehog didnt let it down

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dick on 7th February 2010 7:59pm

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