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Report: Jerry Bruckheimer Games closed
American film and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer's eponymous software development studio Jerry Bruckheimer Games has been shut down, according to Gamespot. After having released a grand total of zero games since its inception in 2007, Jerry Bruckheimer Games is "no longer a functioning entity," a Bruckheimer Films representative is quoted as saying.Prior to this, the last we'd heard of Jerry's incubation chamber was way back in 2011, when rumors spread that the studio was working on three different titles. No games or projects, however, were ever officially announced.
Zynga East shuttered, studios in Texas and New York consolidated
Zynga shut down its Baltimore studio, Zynga East, and planned to combine studios in Texas and New York, putting roughly 30 people out of work today. Zynga will consolidate its two studios in Austin, Texas, and relocate the studio in McKinney, Texas, to Dallas. Zynga's New York City offices will merge, transferring staff to the area's mobile studio."In an effort to leverage resources as we focus on creating franchises and driving profitability, Zynga has made changes to four of our US offices," Zynga COO David Ko told Joystiq. He concluded: "While these decisions are always difficult, these steps will affect approximately 1 percent of our workforce and enable us to focus our resources on the most significant growth opportunities."Zynga lost chief game designer and head of Zynga East Brian Reynolds in January, and shut down CityVille 2 development. This continues a trend of financial problems, game closures and executive departures at Zynga.
Posterous closing on April 30th to focus on Twitter
It's almost inevitable as breathing: a tech powerhouse acquires a clever yet small startup solely for its talent or technology, and lets any leftover services wither away. Posterous' decision to shut down following its 2012 acquisition by Twitter is very nearly a textbook example. The 4-year-old firm will close its Posterous Spaces service on April 30th to shift all of its attention to Twitter, giving customers just over two months to back up their content. There is an unusual twist to this seemingly predictable story, however. Those still using Spaces will have a place to go -- along with Squarespace and Wordpress import tools, Posterous founders Brett Gibson and Garry Tan are planning to launch Posthaven as a (not entirely intentional) refuge. Diehards will still have reason to mourn the end of an era, but the closure at least won't be the end to their creations.
PSN Tuesday: Dragonborn, Ecolibrium, Persona 4 Arena
Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC pack has landed its clawed, winged self on the PlayStation Network, two months after the Xbox 360 release and one week after the content's PC debut. The $9.99 adventure sends you back to the scene of Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion, the Island of Solstheim.Also dropping on PSN today is the entirety of Persona 4 Arena for PS3, as well as Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken and Ecolibrium for Vita, the latter of which is completely free. This month, PlayStation Plus subscribers can add Closure to their Instant Game Collection, which is kind of cheating, if you ask us -- we've been paying our therapist to bring closure for years.Hit the source link below for the full list of what's new.
Closure free on PS Plus this week, Critter Crunch for $1.40
Closure, the black-and-white game in which objects only exist if a light is shining on them, gets its own spotlight this week. Starting tomorrow, the PSN game is free for PlayStation Plus members.Critter Crunch is pretty much the opposite of black and white, featuring prominent rainbow vomitus. Capy's PS3 puzzle game isn't free, but it is really cheap this week at $1.40. Other special offers include Alien Breed for $8, Derrick the Deathfin for $4, and 2c0% off of NHL 13.
Bullet Run shutting down on March 8th
Sony Online Entertainment has announced the imminent closing of its short-lived multiplayer FPS, Bullet Run. In a post on the game's official forums, the studio announced that "after much review and consideration, Acony Games and Sony Online Entertainment have mutually made the decision to discontinue development on the free-to-play FPS game, Bullet Run." SOE will be officially sunsetting the game on March 8th, 2013. Until that time, however, the servers will remain up-and-running for any players who want to have one last hoorah before the game takes its final bow. Membership billing, however, ended yesterday, February 1st. Any players who still had time on their Platinum Memberships as of that time will receive a "pro rata refund for any time remaining on [their] Bullet Run subscription[s]" from SOE. The full details can be found on the game's official forums, and we wish the best of luck to the game's dev team in its members' future endeavors. [Thanks to Jack Pipsam for the tip!]
Vigil Games Lead Combat Designer stands up, says goodbye
Vigil Games Lead Combat Designer Ben Cureton and the rest of the Vigil staff cleaned out the office today, after Vigil was left untouched at THQ's auction. Vigil was shuttered, and as per THQ's letter to employees, everyone working there was laid off. In a post on NeoGAF, Cureton compared the scene in the office to a silent warzone."The walls look bare," he wrote. "It's quiet. The seats are empty."Vigil Games, the studio behind Darksiders 2, was working on something called Crawler, a project we first heard about in THQ's December bankruptcy filing. After two months working on Crawler, Cureton was convinced that it would blow people's minds."I knew, without a shadow of the doubt, that the project we were working on (Codenamed: Crawler) was going to blow people away. In fact, it did blow people away. We did, in two months, what many companies haven't done in a year. The pride of knowing that no one was doing anything like us was so satisfying, it kept us coming to work and giving 100 percent every single day, even through the dark times."Today was one of those dark times. Cureton was taken aback when he didn't find Vigil's name on the list of purchased properties."Maybe you can imagine what it feels like when you read the list of who bought what only to discover your name is not on the list," he said. "Why? Did we do something wrong? Were we not good enough? Were we not worth 'anything?' Imagine that."In the end, Cureton thanked fans of the Darksiders series and promised to continue making games, having already worked in the industry 20 years."In closing, I can only say thank you to the fans of Vigil games," Cureton said. "Your support means more than you can imagine. Your feedback (both positive and negative) gave us long-lasting insight that we will all take with us, wherever we may go. You are the reason we made Darksiders 1 and 2... and you are the reason we will continue to make games."And with that... my seat is empty."
GamesCampus closing doors on Scarlet Legacy
While last year certainly had its share of MMO closures, it didn't take long for a game to hit the chopping block in 2013. Scarlet Legacy, the free-to-play game that started its run with an open beta back in August 2011, will head into the sunset on February 12th. While the server will remain open until this date for players, the cash shop has already closed down. GamesCampus thanks players for all their support and noted that while it cannot offer compensation for already purchased items, it is looking into giving folks Campus Credit or bonus packages to other GamesCampus games.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter Extra: Interviews with Champions Online and The Phoenix Project
I promised you that we would be doing interviews next time, but astute readers would note that I did not say "next week." So welcome to our special extra installment of the column looking at two different sides following the City of Heroes shutdown. We've already seen two projects coming from the ashes of CoH; The Phoenix Project and Heroes and Villains are both currently being assembled by passionate fans of the now-departed game. But we'd be remiss if we failed to note the impact that the game's closure has had on existing games like Champions Online and DC Universe Online. Rather than just speculating on any of this, we decided to just ask. So today you've got two interviews. One is with Brad Stokan, Executive Producer at Cryptic Studios, about how the City of Heroes shutdown has affected Champions Online and the studio that helped bring the game to life in the first place. The other is with the lead staff at Missing Worlds Media, the team behind The Phoenix Project. So let's take a look behind the scenes, yes?
A video retrospective on 38 Studios discusses 'star-struck legislators'
The sun has set on 38 Studios, but there's still a lot of people eager to analyze and dissect the company's rise and sharp decline. As a whole, it's been looked at and analyzed extensively from the gaming side, but the other factors that went into the studio's enormous state loan and subsequent burnout are examined more closely in a new video. This isn't about whether or not Project Copernicus would have been any good; this is about simple business and political pressures that doomed the project from the start. Curt Schilling started 38 Studios at the end of his baseball career, but it was a well-known fact that his attempts to court venture capitalists were unsuccessful. The video goes into depth regarding the political climate that encouraged Rhode Island legislators to sign the historic and ill-advised loan, as well as the factors leading to the company's ultimate demise. If you're interested in a broader view now that the smoke has cleared, take a look at the full video past the cut.
Zynga Japan closing
As was originally suggested by Zynga CEO Mark Pincus back in October, Zynga Japan will be closing its doors as part of a company wide "Cost Reduction Plan" this January. The decision was made official by an announcement on Zynga Japan CEO Kenji Matsubara's Facebook profile, where he thanked users for playing his company's games. Three of Zynga Japan's games have already been discontinued: City builder Machitsuku, Scrabble clone Mojitomo and monster training RPG Montopia. Zynga Japan's mobile card battling game Ayakashi (available in the US as Ayakashi: Ghost Guild) will continue to operate beyond the developer's official closure at the end of January, 2013.Other branches affected by the Cost Reduction Plan include Zynga Austin, which suffered a significant reduction in staff, along with Zynga Boston, which was closed entirely.
Family Guy Online to shut down next month
Get your Quahog gaming fix soon because Family Guy Online is not long for this world. The game announced that it will be shutting down next month on January 18th. Family Guy Online is currently in open beta, which means that it will have never officially launched before spinning down. The game will refund any cash purchases made during the last two months (from October 22nd through December 21st). If you're curious how this interactive version of the TV animated series performed, you can check out Beau's Rise and Shiny expedition. [Thanks to Matthew for the tip!]
The Think Tank: What's your solution to save closing MMOs?
In the spectrum of entertainment, MMOs are still relatively young. When the original MMOs were created in the late '90s, I don't imagine the innovators thought much about what would happen if millions of people got hooked on these games, built solid relationships, put thousands of hours into their characters... and then it all went away. The consequence of that unique situation is a lot more painful than most early developers could have imagined, yet it's happening more frequently. With the closure of popular MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes and more, some players are a bit irritated at the genre as a whole. Not too many other time-investment hobbies can completely go away as quickly as an MMO. So what does the Massively staff think is the solution? Do we turn to F2P publishers to throw some cash shop Band-Aids on the game and nudge it back into the wild? Do we bypass legal avenues and look at emulators? Is there even such thing as a solution?
My Little Pony Online put out to pasture
OK, so maybe the game wasn't really too old (it had only been live for a month), but Hasbro's cease-and-desist order definitely sent My Little Pony Online into retirement. Of course, this action came as no surprise; back when we first reported on the project, we noted that legal troubles were likely, as the endeavor was not backed by the official copyright holder of the popular ponies. But all is not lost for fans who want to continue their adventures with ponies -- it just won't be My Little ones. In the same announcement where they revealed the demise of the game (while deflecting blame away from Hasbro), MLP:O creators divulged that they are sticking together and are all set to work on another pony-inspired project. Under the name Starlight Studios, the group hopes to have the new project ready in time for Bronycon 2013.
News Corporation shutters The Daily tablet newspaper as of December 15th
News Corporation's The Daily was to have been a vanguard of the future, based on the past -- a tablet-focused newspaper that could get us back to paying subscriptions for our regular news fix. Not enough of us were as enthralled with the retro-future concept, however. While CEO Rupert Murdoch calls The Daily a "bold experiment," he's shutting the publication down as of December 15th following sluggish growth that didn't match long-term expectations. The move may pay off for other divisions. As part of a larger spinoff of its publishing wing headed by Robert Thomson, News Corp is moving the all-digital outlet's resources and some of its staff (including Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo) into the considerably more paper-bound New York Post. In some senses, it wasn't hard to see a shutdown as a possibility. While Murdoch is more than a little fond of paywalls as an alternative to free, ad-based viewing, The Daily was counting on building a paid readership completely from scratch in a web-based era -- it's hard to compete with free.
Polymer Vision reportedly shut down, along with its dream of rollable e-ink displays
The saga of Polymer Vision has been defined by optimistic plans braced by second chances when financial reality came crashing in, with no happily ever after or definite end in sight. Unfortunately, there may not be much more of a story to tell. CTO Edzer Huitema claims that Wistron has shut down Polymer Vision entirely: while it's keeping the intellectual property behind the rollable display company it acquired in 2009, it has reportedly dismissed all associated staff after unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer. We've asked Wistron for a more formal confirmation and an explanation, and we'll let you know if there's an update. However, it's possible that Polymer Vision's technology was simply past its prime. As +Plastic Electronics notes, Polymer Vision and the Readius came at a time before mobile tablets and giant smartphones, when it wasn't clear that we would tolerate big screens in our pockets; while flexible displays are still in development, some of Polymer Vision's biggest advantages have faded away.
Glitch's creator on the game's failure: 'Too foreign of a concept'
If you're looking for just one reason why Glitch is sunsetting, you're out of luck. If you're looking for many, many reasons why Glitch failed, then all you have to do is pull up a chair in front of Tiny Speck's Stewart Butterfield and listen to him talk. Butterfield spoke with Gamasutra about the myriad of reasons why Glitch didn't take and ultimately had to be shuttered. "Ultimately if I have to identify one thing as the problem -- I don't think there is just one -- but if I had to choose just one," Butterfield said, "I think the game was too foreign of a concept for most people." He pointed out that while there was a devoted fan base who "got it," marketing the title presented severe problems throughout most of the game's lifespan: "There haven't ever been other non-combat MMOs that are based on absurdity, humor, and whimsy. I'm not sure anyone has the specific expertise in making this thing work." Other failures that Butterfield identified was a lack of fun gameplay until recently, the decision to do the game in Flash instead of for mobile platforms, large expenditures of money, and Tiny Speck's big team drawing salaries.
Join Massively tonight as we stream City of Heroes' final hour [Updated]
November 30th is a dark day for City of Heroes fans. Three months ago, NCsoft announced that it would be pulling the plug on the popular superhero MMO and shuttering Paragon Studios, the team behind the magic. The game's date of execution has now arrived; the MMO will draw its final breath tonight -- or tomorrow, depending on your time zone. The servers will shut down at 3:00 a.m. EST Saturday morning (midnight tonight on the West Coast). Never the type to go quietly, the Titan Network crew has organized a final Unity Rally; it will begin at 2:00 a.m. EST tomorrow morning (11:00 p.m. PST tonight) and take place at Atlas Park's City Hall on every server. Join Massively tonight as we livestream a final farewell to the game and record the event for posterity (or just people who fell asleep). And while you wait, you can go join the latest #SaveCoH campaign, this one a Hail Mary pitch to Disney. Farewell, Paragon City. Your innovation and creativity will be missed. [Update: It's gone, heroes. We've uploaded the stream after the cut for those who couldn't be there in person.]
MMObility: Why the closing of Glitch matters
When it was announced that Glitch was closing, I felt a blend of shock and sadness. Glitch is one of my favorite MMOs, but it's special for a number of reasons. The game achieved a lot in a crowded market that is filled with the same gameplay, same lore, and same stock characters that we have seen for years, and it achieved all of this within a Flash-based browser environment. The official announcement gave us a lot of clues as to what happened, but it looks like the money was just not enough to keep the game afloat. It's also very possible that the money was enough, but just barely. Running a business is hard, and running an MMO that is so unique and unusual can be the same as living paycheck to paycheck. It's stressful and scary when the future is never certain... sometimes it's easier to call it quits.
Glitch closing down, cites limited audience
The word is out and it is sad: "Glitch is over." Tiny Speck delivered the shocking news today, saying that the 2-D browser title will be closing forever on December 9th. The team said that it is "heartbroken" to have to announce this, and apologized for letting its fans down. Apparently, the game simply could not find a critical mass large enough to be financially viable. The developers explained it simply: "Unfortunately, Glitch has not attracted an audience large enough to sustain itself and based on a long period of experimentation and our best estimates, it seems unlikely that it ever would." While Tiny Speck will continue with a smaller team working on other projects, many of Glitch's developers are now looking for work elsewhere. The studio posted a closure FAQ that included reasoning behind the shutdown and information on how to obtain refunds for money spent on the game. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
