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[Alienous]

God dammit. Killzone Mercenary is a fantastic game. RIGS is a good VR title.

 

[Kuro]

Could this have anything to do with Brexit?

 

[Gestault]

Killzone Mercenary is my favorite game in the series, and really doesn't get as much visibility as it deserves compared to the rest. This stinks.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Bend Studio is next. Without a doubt. This is becoming expected now.

 

[Grim Patron]

This sucks.

Hope everyone affected land on their feet soonest.

What a shame, their work on Killzone Mercenary was godlike.

Yes to both of those.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

God dammit. Killzone Mercenary is a fantastic game. RIGS is a good VR title.

Why couldn't it have been Sony Bend instead?

Don't do this...

 

[Fularu]

Now that Sony is in a leading position, they are again closing their studios and relying on 3rd parties to carry them.

For them it looks like ND, SSM (to some extent) and PD are the only studios that really matter, the rest can get the axe prety much anytime.

 

[Loudninja]

God dammit. Killzone Mercenary is a fantastic game. RIGS is a good VR title.

Why couldn't it have been Sony Bend instead?

This is a nasty thing to say.

 

[D1renegade]

So RIGS is dead?

Ugh wtf Sony..

 

[Bishop89]

VR was a mistake

sorry to hear

 

[ffvorax]

Was also the Wipeout studio from uk? Have they some problem with uk studios? :\

 

[bidguy]

oh wow medievil was my fav game of ps1 era
hope those guys find work quick

 

[outunderthestars]

Feels like Sony is having a vendetta with UK at this point.

I guess the high costs of UK development just make it tough to generate profits from their games.

Sad to hear about people losing their jobs, but it is a business...

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Media Molecule is soooooo dead after they drop their next bomb ;-;

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Never nice to see anyone lose there jobs.

The UK scene has been hit hard in the last few years

 

[Grisby]

MErcs was my second favorite killzone game. That studio had better story chops for the series than the regular studio had.

Thanks for the memories guys. Good luck for future endeavors!

 

[Turkoop]

I don't understand this move. RIGS received some great reviews, community liked it so far. With enough budget they could now work on the next Killzone while Guerilla is busy with Horizon.

 

[Hasney]

That's a fucking shame. RIGS is a better game than anything the parent company has done.

Also makes me worried about Sony's VR output if they're willing to close a studio that hit out of the park day 1 and lose that experience...

 

[GIANKRATOS]

That sucks. Whish the best to all the people laid off

 

[Nightengale]

Why don't they move dev into other studio?
What happen to British base studio?

VR was a mistake.

Sony just lay them off without putting them into their other studios?

One of Sony's weakness ( and strength, from a different perspective) is that each individual development studio pretty much stands on its own.

A different publisher might had put Evo to be a Polyphony asset studio or something like that but Sony generally don't make any sort of sweeping creative changes to retain devs by restructuring... just fire them.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Fuck's sake Sony. Fuck's sake.

Media Molecule will be next, unless Dreams is a big hit (which I don't see happening). Yet another Sony studio dragged down because of being chained to niche hardware. See also: Zipper (Vita), BigBig (PSP), probably some fucking others I've forgotten.

 

[Guymelef]

Bend Studio is next. Without a doubt. This is becoming expected now.

Cuts in US studios were made few months ago.

 

[LordKano]

Media Molecule is soooooo dead after they drop their next bomb ;-;

Yeah I think they're next.

 

[Lifeline]

Sony losing one of their big VR game studios, feeling like Vita all over again.

 

[Ridley327]

Wow, another UK studio bites the dust. London Studio and Media Molecule are all that's left now, right?

Cambridge had a really long legacy of being among Sony's more technically accomplished developers, so I hope they can land on their feet quickly.

 

[Fularu]

Media Molecule is soooooo dead after they drop their next bomb ;-;

I dont know, I believe MM is mostly doing engine/tools work, so even when their games bomb, they still stay relevant.

I wonder what will happen if (when) Gran Turismo Sport bombs

 

[Dargor]

Man, why would they close this studio? They just delivered a new game.

They talk about redundancies, but was it really that bad?

 

[Suzzopher]

Yeah I think they're next.

Followed by Sucker Punch.

 

[Guymelef]

I wonder what will happen if (when) Gran Turismo Sport bombs

GT Sport bombs? Not in this world.

 

[Hasney]

This week has just made me so angry. Feel like Nintendo will announce a closure after the Switch event or something now.

 

[Lifeline]

Bend Studio is next. Without a doubt. This is becoming expected now.

Only if Days Gone completely bombs. I don't think Sony wants to lose their big open world IP considering they don't have a lot of those.

 

[archnemesis]

That's a shame. I haven't gotten around to pick up a PSVR yet, but RIGS is one of the few titles that I'm interested in. Killzone Mercenary was great. I hope all their developers find other studies to work at.

 

[EmiPrime]

Wonder if Brexit played a role in the decision here.

Regardless - a shame for everyone involved. I thought that Killzone Merc was second only to Killzone 2 in the series and, while I don't have a PSVR, RIGS was always the game that appealed the most.

We tanked the value of our currency, running costs of a UK studio should be much cheaper than ever before for a foreign company like Sony.

 

[Disagree Guy]

That sucks bad.

I live very close to Cambridge (like a 20 minute bus ride) and I can't think of many big time games developers for quite a large radius.....

Gonna be tough to find a job I'd have thought.

 

[Fularu]

GT Sport bombs? Not in this world.

GT6 saw a huge decline and driving games aren't what they used to be, sales wise.

 

[jmga]

Hasn't Sony closed like 5 or 6 studios in the last 5 years?

 

[SunDimension24]

Oh no!! Thought they might have secretly taken over killzone while guerrilla games was doing horizon and would be able to expand on the things they did in killzone mercenary with more advanced technology. Best of luck to all of those affected.

 

[Footos22]

At this point it's pretty much obv UK games development is not cost effective. So many UK studios shutdown in the last few years. A real shame.

 

[Outrun]

Don't be Microsoft, Sony.

They're both corporations. The sooner that this is understood, the better.

I hope all the team land on their feet.

 

[Turkoop]

Instead of giving Activision money for CoD, you should care more about your studios.

 

[Primethius]

GT6 saw a huge decline and driving games aren't what they used to be, sales wise.

Not a fair example. GT6 did 5 million at least on a console whose successor came out and started dominating in almost every market.

 

[Yagharek]

Game industry market seems like an incredibly volatile one for workers.

With all the stress of crunch and lack of union protection, and the frequency of layoffs, lack of job security and competition from young graduates... I couldn't imagine working like that.

Hopefully these people can find work quickly.

 

[Vinnk]

This gen has been brutal.

 

[Alienous]

Don't do this...

This is a nasty thing to say.

You're right. It sounds meaner in text than I intended. All I mean to say is that Guerrila Cambridge were my favourite of the handheld developers, and they'd be the last I'd want to see shut down. But I don't want either development studio closed.

 

[Timbuktu]

Videogames is such shit industry to work in.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Could this have anything to do with Brexit?

Why would it? Sony have been closing studios this gen before the vote. Liverpool in 2012, Evolution in March 2016 etc etc.

 

[AGoodODST]

That sucks, Meceneries was a legitimately fantastic game.

Hope everyone lands on their feet.

 

[Yopis]

Man fuck
Just as i post how awesome their Killzone game is and that i want 'em to continue working on the series

Yeah Mercenary was so good.They really put out great product for Vita owners.

 

[vivekTO]

I thought they are working on a Killzone Ip , looking at the Job posting. Well it sucks .
Good luck to all of them .

 

[outunderthestars]

Man, why would they close this studio? They just delivered a new game.

They talk about redundancies, but was it really that bad?

The decision was probably made some time ago...