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MotoGP developer Monumental Games ends its run
Monumental Games is no more, selling off all its intellectual property, office supplies and tech. Develop reports the Nottingham UK studio, developer of the MotoGP series, currently has "several parties interested in buying" the remains of the studio. It will be fully dissolved by the end of the year.Monumental's final operating business was its Prime engine, which apparently didn't gain traction. Last month the company fired its remaining staff, after attempts to restructure since December 2010. Back then it committed massive cuts to the staff when an unannounced project for a major publisher didn't work out.
Report: Monumental Games fires remaining employees
Monumental Games, developer of the MotoGP series, has let its remaining 20 staffers go. Develop reports that the Nottingham UK studio is now in administration. Monumental Games announced in December 2010 that it was working on restructuring the business and not issuing any more layoffs. The month prior, the company administered deep cuts to the staff after an unannounced project for a large publisher fell through. And, so, we use our depressing "layoffs" tag for the second time in 2012 on the same day.
Monumental Games continues restructuring without further layoffs
MotoGP 09/10 developer Monumental Games suffered a major setback in November when an unannounced project for a large publisher unexpectedly fell through, forcing the company to restructure and reduce headcount. Speaking to Develop more recently, Monumental COO Paul Mayze explained that its subsidiary company has been deemed "technically insolvent." According to Mayze, the UK-based Monumental Games Ltd will enter administration, while owner Monumental Games Group Ltd will carry on trading and retain the 30 staff members at its Nottingham location. "We're securing funding for Monumental Games Group to continue trading, and that's all in the process of being finalised right now," he said. "We're going to continue to focus on the areas that we're already working on. We'll still have the racing studio, we'll still focus on our digital online projects, and we still have the Prime engine business." Prime is a 3D engine for massively multiplayer online games that can be embedded into web browsers. According to Develop, the technology is "gathering strong interest" from several publishers.
Capcom announces MotoGP 10/11, coming March 2011
Good news, everyone: The Earth has once again completed its celestial lap 'round the Sun! You might have other manners of measuring the start/stop times of the Julian year, but we prefer our method, which is to wait for Capcom to announce the next MotoGP game. That happened earlier today, when the publisher revealed March 2011 will see the 360 and PS3 release of MotoGP: Hyper Wheelz of Fury 2: Sword of Suzuki. No, no, that's not true at all. It is, of course, titled MotoGP 10/11. According to Capcom, MotoGP 10/11 will keep in line with its predecessors by delivering "all the content from the 2010 MotoGP season and offer downloadable updates for the 2011 MotoGP championship shortly after the season starts." You'll be able to play through said content with a friend, as the game will add a local splitscreen co-op mode, which lets a fellow biker join your MotoGP team to help take top honors in championship races. We expect the occurrence of Talladega Nights-esque slingshot maneuvers will increase tenfold once this new feature is implemented. %Gallery-107155%
Monumental Games loses staff following 'unexpected' project cancellation
Monumental Games will incur an unspecified number of layoffs following the unforeseen cancellation of an unannounced project. The UK-based developer, which worked on MotoGP 09/10, stated that the recently deceased deal (with an unnamed publisher) will force it to restructure its business and reduce head count. "Due to an unexpected project cancellation Monumental has been forced to restructure its business which has resulted in a number of job losses," read a company statement, shared with Develop. "The company is saddened by the cuts and will provide the necessary support to those affected through the change." According to Monumental CEO Rik Alexander, the company will continue its work on "Prime," a 3D browser-embeddable engine being shopped around to MMO publishers, and will keep developing "games in the social gaming space as well as other more traditional work for hire projects." Monumental was ranked 6th in a Sunday Times ranking of the UK's fastest growing private tech companies, published in September 2010.
MotoGP 09/10 speeds to North America March 16, Europe March 19
Capcom has announced that MotoGP 09/10 will hit the the American retail track on March 16 and Europe on March 19. The game, developed by new team Monumental Games, brings with it a career mode with management features, an arcade mode, online racing and a spectator mode. Better still, Capcom has already promised to release free DLC for the title shortly after release. The DLC is set to feature "all the 2010 season content, including all new tracks, team updates, and new bike classes." A demo for the title is also planned shortly before release Furthermore, Capcom has announced that the online mode will accommodate 20 players, which it claims is a first for console racing games. Check out a new trailer for the game above.
Capcom scraping knees with MotoGP 09/10 in March
Capcom's recently acquired motorcycling sim series is set to hit the track again in March 2010 with MotoGP 09/10 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Capcom has put a new team on the franchise in Monumental Games, but before you start running around and slashing tires in disgust, know that some of the members of that studio are actually MotoGP veterans. Put the knife down!The next installment in the series brings all of the bikes, riders, and tracks from the 2009 championship series, including a full-fledged career mode that will give players the control to handle not only the racing, but also managerial tasks. But, even more interesting is Capcom's promise to "update the game with accurate real-time content from the 2010 championship at no extra cost." Rounding out the rest of the game will be an Arcade mode, and online racing, supporting leaderboards and a spectator mode.
Capcom inks deal with MMO makers Monumental Games
Capcom has announced a development deal with UK based MMO and Virtual World developers Monumental Games. The press release is short and there's very little to go on, but the game in question will be "an as yet unannounced multi-platform title scheduled for release and published by Capcom later this year." The Monumental Games website confirms that they're working on a top-secret project that's destined for current-gen consoles. The website also states that "there's a substantial online element, but the gameplay focus is pure adrenalin."Our gut feeling is that it could be a new console-based Monster Hunter Online. Though we're not sure Capcom would entrust such a precious license to a relatively unknown studio. MotoGP Online perhaps? We're intrigued to find out more and, considering the game is due out later this year, it shouldn't be long before all is revealed.[Via Press Release]
Now it would take a billion quid to topple World of Warcraft?
You may recall the statements of Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, who earlier this year stated that it would take a billion dollars or more to 'topple' Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Instead, Kotick wisely chose the path of non-resistance and merged with the successful developer. Now we've got the British version of that statement, coming from Rik Alexander of Monumental Games. Monumental is working on the soccer-centric MMO Football Superstars. Alexander says their choice to avoid World of Warcraft's market was very deliberate.Said the studio head, "Fantasy is very well serviced. I'd need a billion quid to take on WoW." He notes that the company is far more interested in tapping into cultural touchstones, like soccer, and cracks a joke about making a trainspotting MMO. He concludes, "When we set up Monumental three years ago I didn't want to be a game developer. I didn't think it was a very good business model ... [with MMOs, though,] you get one deal and it's there for 10 or 20 years, who knows. And that's really a good way to think about business ... The problem is obviously making a successful one in the first place." One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Benchmark Capital joins Vivox in 7.8 million USD deal
According to Wagner James Au at GigaOm, Benchmark Capital has joined the board of Vivox. We're not sure how much Benchmark Capital invested directly. The total was $7.8 million US dollars in Series B financing, some of which also came from Canaan Partners and GrandBanks Capital. The man behind the deal was Mitch Lasky, formerly with Eletronic Arts' mobile division, now general partner at Benchmark Capital.
