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Report: Zoo Tycoon dev Blue Fang lays off dev staff
First Black Rock, then Red Fly, and now Blue Fang: a really depressing theme is presenting itself today. Blue Fang Games, developer of Zoo Tycoon and the Facebook Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego games, is in the process of laying off "the entirety of its development staff," according to a statement Gamasutra received from a source. Gamasutra's anonymous source said that the layoffs total around 15 people, similar to those that hit the company in 2009. The company is reportedly continuing to look for new work, but told the laid-off employees the odds are not good, and, as the source said, "it is more prudent to find new positions." Best of luck to all affected -- and stay away from companies with colors in their names for a while.
'Oregon Trail' and 'Carmen Sandiego' coming to Facebook in Feb.
Please excuse us if a bit too much childlike excitement comes through in today's news that fresh takes on The Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? will be released for Facebook early next month. Next-Gen.biz spotted a note revealing the two titles on developer Darius Kazemi's personal blog, where he expressed his own childlike excitement to have worked on them. "I loved both of these games as a kid (my favorites were Where in Space...? and Where in the USA...?), and one of the main reasons I took the job at Blue Fang was to get a chance to work on these awesome titles," Kazemi gushed. Even better, trailers for both can be found after the break, revealing a bit about the titles' respective gameplay, as well as their launch dates -- February 2 for The Oregon Trail (with hunting, yes!) and February 9 for Carmen Sandiego. And both games, we must add, look totally awesome. We're starting to get worried about this whole "Facebook" thing.%Gallery-115170%
Blue Fang lets go of 15 staff
Massachusetts-based Zoo Tycoon developer Blue Fang announced yesterday that it has cut 15 staff. The company stated on its website that the staff reduction was "necessary" and that the team had developed a successful proprietary tool and tech to make "multi-platform products in less time and with significantly fewer resources." This "benefit" to the company's business meant it could "adjust both the size and mix of [the] development team going forward." The studio's World of Zoo should release on PC, Wii and DS this fall.For those recently laid off or looking for jobs in the Boston area, check out the Boston Post Mortem job board.[Via Develop]
Blue Fang sinks teeth into former Looking Glass artist
Now, we don't want to come right out and say that game industry vet Alex Chouls has a zoo fetish, but he has sided with Blue Fang Games, the studio behind Zoo Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon 2 and, well, almost every game we can think of with 'zoo' in its title. The former Looking Glass 3D artist first joined the company shortly after the System Shock house turtled in 2000, and recently leapfrogged into a new role at Blue Fang as the studio's creative director. In his new post, Chouls will help steer the newly announced zoo sim World of Zoo for the Wii, work he expects to build on for future projects. After all, he otter-know.
THQ and Blue Fang comment on new deal
Exactly one week ago, we reported on a deal between THQ and Blue Fang (makers of the Zoo Tycoon games). In said deal, the two would collaborate on a new title, geared toward the casual crowd, and available for the PC, Wii and DS in 2009. And with the Zoo Tycoon games selling 7 million copies worldwide, the two are hoping for a similarly successful hit. So what new information can be gained from the interview? Well, for one, we're probably looking at a new franchise here, with many entries (unless, you know, it bombs). On top of that, this will be Blue Fang's first venture outside of the PC space and the company "can say without equivocation that this is the best stuff we've ever done." Bold words.Blue Fang also comments that they've had Wii dev kits for awhile and have been working on this product for about a year now (why don't we have anything to see, then?).
THQ hits up Blue Fang to develop new property
When was the last time you got excited about a new property from THQ? For us, it was probably WCW vs NWO Revenge back on the N64 (oh, we miss those days when wrestling games were good). Regardless of what THQ project got you hot and bothered back in the day, you might find something worth getting excited about here, as THQ has tapped Blue Fang Games for work on an upcoming property on the DS, Wii and PC.If Blue Fang Games doesn't ring a bell for you, then you've likely not invested any time in the Zoo Tycoon series of games. The franchise has sold over 7 million copies worldwide, according to THQ, and this latest project should see retail shelves come 2010. The only thing we know about it at this point is it will target the mass market, casual gamer demographic.
