Tony Hawk: Shred team axed

By Fred Dutton Published 12 October, 2010

Activision lays off Robomodo staff.

Activision is making redundancies at Tony Hawk: Shred developer Robomodo, according to multiple sources cited by Kotaku.

30 employees have apparently already been axed, with another 30 due to receive their marching orders before the day is out.

The sources report that the lay-offs are in response to news from Activision that Robomodo is to be taken off the Tony Hawk franchise following the release of Shred.

A surprising decision perhaps, if it's true, given Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's recent claim that Robomodo's Ride board was his favourite ever peripheral.

Chicago-based Robomodo, formed in 2008, released the decidedly underwhelming Tony Hawk: Ride last year. The follow-up, Tony Hawk: Shred is due for release on 29th October on PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360.

This is the second time this week that Activision has handed out the P45s. Yesterday, it cut 40 employees from Singularity studio Raven's workforce.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • excelexcel #1 2 years ago

    Yikes. before the game is even released? Well we all knew it was going to be bad, but at least give the game a chance to succeed before staff are layed off

  • Quak #2 2 years ago

    Are you watching, Bungie?

  • NimbusTLD #3 2 years ago

    Next week, Activision announces they will only be making Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and Blizzard games. All other staff to be axed.

  • Darren #4 2 years ago

    Axe-ivision!

  • makeamazing #5 2 years ago

    Good luck to those involved.

    This is what gets on my nerves, you have Bobby saying Pr crap "Peripheral is my favourite ever"... while passing a note to HR to say, lets get rid of the team.... maybe an OTT observation, but hopefully you see what i mean.

    It would be good if blizard werent part of Activision... Bungie will be ok, they probably have a water tight contract, so will be fine on that front.

  • Gambit1977 #6 2 years ago

    Fucking awful company.

  • CosmicFuzz #7 2 years ago

    Sheesh.

  • darkmorgado #8 2 years ago

    Not a particular good indicator of quality for Shred is it? Especially in light of the fact that there has been f*ck all in terms of press coverage...

  • hoster #9 2 years ago

    "Are you watching, Bungie?"

    As an independent studio, I doubt they care.

  • el_pollo_diablo #10 2 years ago

    Thanks for all your hard work, close the door on your way out.

    Business is pretty heartless nowadays.

  • Gromit #11 2 years ago

    Here's a good idea - why not make a good controller-based Tony Hawks game that is as good as THPS 1-3?

    Skate ripped off your best ideas, so why not do something positive about it before you get totally buried?!!

  • Collymilad #12 2 years ago

    The only thing Skate ripped from TH was that you ride around on a skateboard.

  • space_ace #13 2 years ago

    teams these days are torn to Shreds...

  • OnlyMe #14 2 years ago

    And Tony Hawks ripped off Skate or Die for the very same thing.

    In a perfect world, Activision would've canned Tony Hawk: Shred for not being good enough. Unfortunately, we live in a world where companies consciously release bad products, but doesn't care about the quality because it sells anyway.

  • MrChuckles #15 2 years ago

    Were they contractors though?

    You expect a few people to be laid off at the end opf a project, but 60?

    That seems more than a little harsh...

    Still, a good way to not pay out bonuses again, and right after crunch finishes.. sheesh...

  • OllyJ #16 2 years ago

    Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD on PSN/XBLA. That's the only thing that would now interest me in the world of my once favorite gaming series,

  • Gromit #17 2 years ago

    @collymillad

    Are you serious?

    I know it's "cool" to like Skate now, and so do I, but here's just a few rip-offs:

    - skitching on cars
    - doing tasks for pro skaters
    - creating your own team
    - hall of meat / bailing for points
    - "follow" missions

    Still sure they didn't rip 'em off?

  • sonicyoda #18 2 years ago

    @Gromit

    Those things are kind of a given in a skateboarding game.

    Skate did manage to invent its' own gameplay engine which is dramatically different to Hawk's and is so much more precise to play.