Split/Second dev Black Rock to close

By Robert Purchese Published 1 July, 2011

Remaining 40 staff made redundant.

Update: Disney has confirmed the Black Rock Studios closure.

"Disney Interactive Studios confirms that Black Rock Studios' current project has not been greenlit for further development, consequently the company informed employees yesterday of the intent to enter a consultation process on the proposal to close the studios," wrote Disney in a statement offered to Eurogamer.

Original story: Black Rock Studios, the Brighton-based developer of racing games Pure and Split/Second, is to be completely closed by Disney, Eurogamer can reveal.

A "reduction in workforce" happened earlier this year that left 40 staff positions intact. But Disney told the workforce yesterday, in the 'Town Hall' [internal slang for a company meeting I've now discovered -Ed], that the entire studio is now to be closed.

One anonymous source told Eurogamer that Disney handled Black Rock clumsily, outsourcing games to other companies that the Brighton studio was more than capable of producing.

The source also bemoaned the lack of advertising for recommended racing games Pure and Split/Second.

Nevertheless, from the ashes of Black Rock Studio have arisen new studios: Roundcube Entertainment, lead by Split/Second director Nick Baynes; ShortRound Games, formed by a quartet of previous Black Rock department directors; and BossAlien, fronted by Pure director Jason Avent.

Split/Second flopped commercially but reviewed well.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (57) Latest comment 8 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dr_zoidthrob #1 8 months ago

    Bastard publishers.

    Good luck finding work folks...

  • Eraysor #2 8 months ago

    /slowclap for Disney

  • gjgjg #3 8 months ago

    Another sad development in a booming industry. I hope publishers are learning lessons from all these casualties on how to be productive yet safe when making games.

  • StolenGlory #4 8 months ago

    Fucking Disney.

  • Eoin #5 8 months ago

    It's a bit of a shame.

    I do wonder what may have been if Bizarre and Black Rock hadn't independently and co-incidentally come up with Blur and Split/Second. However different they may actually have been to play, I'm sure that they cannibalised each other's sales and were factors in the closure of both studios.

  • v3rtigo #6 8 months ago

    Really bad news for the British game dev scene and for Brighton! It did seem like Disney didn't handle the studio well - along the same lines as what happened to Bizarre Creations with Activison maybe? A quality developer - Pure was a revelation - who shall be missed. Good luck and best wishes to all the staff.

  • parrapa #7 8 months ago

    2 cracking racing games there - Pure was amazing.

    A merger with Bizzare would have ben all sorts of win

  • skankyjoe #8 8 months ago

    This is sad, i got Split/Second off PSN recently and it's bloody excellent. I hope the guys are all able to find work elsewhere, and that the new studio goes from strength to srength.

  • schnide #9 8 months ago

    Condolensces - Pure was a fantastic game, hampered only by a lack of local multiplayer. Unfortunately, if a studio isn't making money, and if there's really nothing else it can do, then it has to close.

  • Crea #10 8 months ago

    Racing game devs are taking a bit of a beating these days. Is the genre struggling?

  • MarcusJ #11 8 months ago

    A great shame. Pure was good and Split/Second was excellent. Clearly a team with talent.

  • Eldritch #12 8 months ago

    Disney know bugger all about games and have zero sense of quality. Take it from someone who actually worked on Pure.

    Forgot to say how much I LOVE Pure and Split/Second!!! Please do keep going, guys and gals, you know your racing games so very well!!!
    Edited by 1 at 01/07/11 @ 09:57

  • anthonypappa #13 8 months ago

    that's a damn shame.

    didn't like pure myself, but i loved split second.

    they were a great little dev.

  • riceNpea #14 8 months ago


    shabby practices from an insidiously evil company who practice subtle brainwashing, founded by a anti-semitic nazi lover.

    Black Rock are best rid of them. i'm sure people that talented will find a new employer soon.

  • Kanselier #15 8 months ago

    Black Rock produced two excellent games.

    Pure was the SSX we were all begging EA for to make.
    Split/Second was racing mixed with environmental destruction done right for the first time.

    /salute

  • RobTheBuilder #16 8 months ago

    I spent more time on Pure than on Forza 3 and Hot Pursuit combined. Disney, if you don't promote something, how do you expect people to know it's there??

  • pancho #17 8 months ago

    This was completely Disney's fault.

    Idiot publisher.

  • Coughthulu #18 8 months ago

    Good luck to all those at Black Rock; you made the two best racing games of this generation, in my opinion.

  • Rushy #19 8 months ago

    Another sad day for the British videogame industry :(

  • mashk #20 8 months ago

    Shame. Technically these guys were some of the best in the buisness. Pure and Split Second were amazingly accomplished titles.

  • mashk #21 8 months ago

    Shame. Technically these guys were some of the best in the buisness. Pure and Split Second were amazingly accomplished titles.

  • Stroller4 #22 8 months ago


    I can't help but wonder that if Split/Second and Blur had not been released head to head, thus cannibalising each others sales, that Black Rock and Bizarre Creations would still be with us.

    What a shame, I loved Pure - brilliant single and multi-player fun. Gutted there wasn't a sequel.

  • roz123 #23 8 months ago

    Its a shame, I really liked Split/Second. Thought it was much better then Blur.

    I heard Disney offered some sound advice to all those who were made redundant with this video. http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=ejEVczA8PLU

  • FreakyZoid #24 8 months ago

    Some people know how to run a racing game studio, but Walt Disney.

  • Paulie_P #25 8 months ago

    Shame, I'm not a massive fan of racing games but Split Second was the first I have bought in years (PGR 1 was the last) and it was amazing. Good luck to the poor staff on finding new jobs.

  • adofessex #26 8 months ago

    Developer makes a great game. Publisher not pleased when it doesn't come close to COD sale numbers. Greedy publisher closes hard working developer, and thus the cycle of stupidity continues.

  • Bigglesworth #27 8 months ago

    RIP Black Rock, you went before your time.

    Best wishes and good luck for the future to all staff.

  • kalinichenko #28 8 months ago

    As if cancelling Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned and closing Propaganda Studios wasn't enough.Fuck You Disney!!!

  • mhadfi #29 8 months ago

    So who owns the split/second IP? I would love to see a sequel.

  • Liquidoodle #30 8 months ago

    Disney = Evil Cock Suckers

    Nothing good will ever come with having a partnership with them, it's a big shame :(

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #31 8 months ago

    The editorial team at DevelopOnline really should look at what is in the Job Spotlight before they publish.

    [link url=http://yfrog.com/z/gysgtbp
    ]http://yfrog.com/z/gysgtbp
    [/link]

    Hope the chaps / chapesses find work soon.

  • DiamondIce #32 8 months ago

    Very sad news. Pure and Split/Second were class act games.

  • Sniper_007 #33 8 months ago

    Nooooo - Why didn't you all buy Split/Second? It was awesome!!!

    Such a shame

  • mss99 #34 8 months ago

    Shame on Disney. Very talented team. I have both of their games and think they are excellent.

  • themerlin13 #35 8 months ago

    This is crazy!
    so much shit getting churned out by crap studios, yet the crown jewls of brittish gaming getting torn apart by arsehole pubs!

    All the best lads, keep independant!

  • Ninou #36 8 months ago

    Disney really is a Mickey Mouse organisation...

    Thoroughly enjoyed PURE and would have pounced on Split/Second had not a tiny wee human baby came along and stole all of my free gaming time. Shame nearly everything the kid owns has a fucking Disney logo on it (not my fault - I just a very unimaginative family!)

  • Darren #37 8 months ago

    This is very sad news as both PURE and Split/Second were really excellent games (even if the PC versions felt a bit like afterthoughts... PURE has some horrendous loading times for example). I think it was a huge, huge mistake for Black Rock to have signed to Disney as they barely promoted either game and I believe that had it been published by THQ, Take 2 or, hell, anyone else other than Disney or Activision that both games would have done much better.

    Such a shame really. I hope the staff quickly find replacement jobs and that they have much success in the future because they clearly have talent and I'd love to see more games from them or even sequels to their only two games.

  • Gumersindo #38 8 months ago

    Another split/second fan here.
    Get a new home fast and start developing split/sceond 2

  • RodHull #39 8 months ago

    Black Rock and their Climax predecessors have made some of the greatest racers of the past two generations. They deserve better than this and are seemingly being punished thanks to BV Games complete inability to market games properly. Bastards.

  • Daeltaja #40 8 months ago

    This sort of thing really, really angers me. Talented as fuck team of developers sacked for no reason other than incompetance on Disneys behalf. It wasn't a problem with the studio (as is usually the case) but more a problem of not been either given a decent IP to develop, or the IP they did develop, not being marketed and handled properly.

    Better off without Disney guys, best of luck with the new studios. I just hope that going forward, small studios start to shy away from the lure of a big publisher purchase, as the outcome is nearly always the same.

  • Subdominator #41 8 months ago

    Stop blaming publishers. If games (and developers) fail it's not because the publisher sucks, it's because nobody buys it. So blame yourself. Disney did very well in promoting this game, they had invested a lot of money in it so of course they were marketing it properly. And it was not a bad release window, in fact May is about the best spot for new IPs. Would you've prefered September (going against F1 2010) or November (Gran Turismo 5, Hot Pursuit)? Nobody expected the sales of Red Dead Redemption, so stop that nonsense as if you would have done any better. It's great to bash what happened in the past with what we know now. But it's silly.

    It's a healthy process that is going on in the UK games industry. If they can only exist with tax reliefs and government funding then there's something wrong with the system. The best will survive, the rest will be collateral damage. It's not rocket science, it's just the way any economy works. The text even says it: One company down, two new companies rose from the ashes. That's why it's healthy, every end is the beginning of new opportunities. Talent is rare, so the talented guys at Black Rock will have a new job in no time.

    #22: Blur and Split/Second didn't hurt each other. Their combined sales are way below the sales that would've been needed to be comercially successful. Blur and Split/Second had the same stupid approach to racing that doesn't work: Explosions/weapons take away what you achieve on the road. That is why Twisted Metal was never successful in Europe. People don't like racing games where luck is the deciding factor on your position. It can work if a track is like thirty seconds long (Mario Kart) and the gameplay is geared towards local multiplayer.

    There is a blueprint to making successful racing games. Use licensed cars. Make the controls simple (Triggers, analog stick, maybe one button for a handbrake). Or do a simulation. If you try something new don't blame it on publishers or whatever, blame it on yourself for taking the risk instead of creating something that has proven to sell. Why did Bizarre want to create the CoD of racing games? Sort of like an ego problem, they could've lived very well just by doing PGR for decades. They could've eben created something like PGR. They had a strong fan base, but they decided to not take them with them on the next project. They decided to revolutionize the genre instead. Black Rock on the other hand could've done the same, do what they're good at. Instead they decided to go after Burnout at a time when that series was already on a decline. Criterion did it right, they saw Burnout had lost its appeal (why? Because they were trying to revolutionize the series with open world racing and whatnot) and they took the right approach: Licensed cars, nice environments, easy controls, IP with a fan base. And sold 5 million copies.

    The story is always the same, developer gets successful, gets greedy, wants to be even more successful, loses its way. They think that being creative means having to try new stuff. It doesn't. You can be creative in certain boundaries but after all it is an industry and a job. It's supposed to be boring at times. That's ok if it pays the bills. If it means you have to work on Forzas, PGRs, Halos, Uncharteds, Tomb Raiders for the rest of your life then be it. If you do something else you know the risks, you should learn to live with them.

    There's a reason why every CoD is basically the same game with new levels: People like it, they buy it. So why change the formula?

  • Retro_ #42 8 months ago

    It would seem they are dropping like flys :( Id like to buy more games but it'd take more than just me.

  • Burnt-Kona Verified Senior Artist, Full Fat Productions #43 8 months ago

    @Subdominator

    It's a healthy process that is going on in the UK games industry. If they can only exist with tax reliefs and government funding then there's something wrong with the system. The best will survive, the rest will be collateral damage. It's not rocket science, it's just the way any economy works.

    The UK games industry survives on the talent of the people. The point of the proposed tax relief is not to survive, but to stop the investment of publishers going to other countries where production costs are cheaper thanks to tax reliefs provided elsewhere. It's not the games industry holding out it's hand and saying "we are poor, we need help", it's the games industry saying "Hey, you think we can compete against the rest of the world without our hands tied behind our backs" We've always punched above our weight as a country in this industry, but it's getting harder. Thankfully the indpendant/iOS markets give us the space to shine again, but I wonder what future this country has with AAA game development, given the costs involved.

    Anyway, best of the luck to all ex-Black Rock. Hope you all find new places quickly.

  • Subdominator #44 8 months ago

    #38 They didn't sign with Disney, they were sold to Disney. And they promoted both games just fine, it's not like they buy a company for 40 million pounds and then just let the games release DOA.

    #10 No, it's not. F1 2010 has 4 million, Hot Pursuit 5 million, Gran Turismo 8 million copies. Dirt 3 stands at 2 million, Forza 4 is supposed to reach in excess of five million. It's got nothing to do with the genre, it's only the games that aren't what people want.

  • FalseAlibi #45 8 months ago

    Sad to see them close - they made good games and seemed fine people. :(

  • Subdominator #46 8 months ago

    @Burnt Kona: For racing games alone there are Criterion, Eutechnyx, Playground, Sumo, Codemasters, Ubisoft Reflections, Slightly Mad Studios all working on AAA games. There's no need to fear for anything in the UK. I'd say it is still and by far on the third place worldwide after Japan and the US when it comes to developers. There have been fears of Eastern developers for almost a decade now, but so far it hasn't happened. Because the experience of Western developers is very valuable. More so than the lower costs in other countries.

  • RFturrican #47 8 months ago

    This is just sad, really.

    It's a screwed up gaming world when you can have a company that can create 2 racing games of pure quality go down the river and still have some truly chronic titles scraping onto the shelves expecting to take our money.

    Maybe it is just a case that as gamers have matured over the decades we've simply grown up and prefer simulations. The kids are all playing CoD anyway, so they're not interested, which leaves the hardcore gamers who still appreciate a good arcade racer.

    My Xbox pad will be at half mast today. Good luck in finding work, folks :(

  • DarkMoon #48 8 months ago

    ok whoever said luck was a deciding factor in winning at s/s? you obviously haven't played it that much huh? go online and see how far luck gets you. I really enjoyed playing s/s. please somebody buy the IP and make a sequel. I'd buy it on launch day
    ( and yes I did buy s/s on launch day, even pre-ordered it)

  • FogHeart #49 8 months ago

    "There is a blueprint to making successful racing games. Use licensed cars. Make the controls simple (Triggers, analog stick, maybe one button for a handbrake). Or do a simulation."

    Christ, I know what you say is probably true but these are all features I either don't care for at all or are even reasons to stay away. I like arcade racers. I don't give a shit about pretending to drive about in certain 'real life' cars. And I don't want to have to deal with the complexities involved in sumulated driving.

    Maybe there's just not enough of people like me to keep the genre afloat :(

  • homerramone #50 8 months ago

    Blur and Split/Second had the same stupid approach to racing that doesn't work:
    What utter rubbish.

    Its a different type of racing game is all. (Blur is essentially MK with real cars and PGR tracks and last I heard MK did very well)
    Though I preferred BLUR to S/S it was personal preference. As for Bizarre wanting to make a 'cod' racing game I suspect this was not the plan at all. I would suggest that they made blur, and a certain (well loved) publisher decided in order to try and make it as successful as their biggest hit they should simply steal some of the elements from it. Personally I think it actually
    works ok because you get the same 'If I have one more go ill rank up' that you got when you played COD online.

    As it happens I prefer BLUR to S/S but I think the blackrock team has a lot of talent and hope they all find new jobs.

    (And for the record I also happen to like Forza and GT, but I think ive probably had MORE fun on blur. Not suggesting its better just saying is all)

  • razzastuta #51 8 months ago

    @ SubDominator

    Just out of interest - do you work in Gaming industry? The way you describe points almosts suggests to me that you do.

  • Burnt-Kona Verified Senior Artist, Full Fat Productions #52 8 months ago

    @Subdominator - I wish I had your optimism in the health of the videogame industry in the UK. Suffice to say, we have actually dropped to 5th in the world rankings when it comes to the money spent on production. Still, 25% of the top 100 studios are in the UK, but it is an expensive proposition to a publisher to leverage that talent, which is becoming a shrinking commodity in itself (9% contraction in the workforece between 2008 and 2010). If it was to happen to me again (3 redundancies over ten years), upping sticks and heading to Canada would be a serious consideration. Hate to do it, but if I'm going to have to move again for work, I may as well go where the money is. I'm sure some ex Black Rock people will be considering the same thing.

  • Subdominator #53 8 months ago

    #51: "From a business perspective, we are targeting Blur to do for racing what Call of Duty did for shooters, and that was the goal when we originally acquired Bizarre Creations to make this game." Statement from May 2009

    And like I said, it works for Mario Kart because a race takes less than two minutes. In Blur it's more like seven to eight minutes and thus much more annoying to lose because of a powerup.

    #52: I worked for some developers and various publishers, yes.

    #53: The money won't stay there forever. If you're not bound by family or friends, then go. But it's not exactly a long term solution.

  • swisstony #54 8 months ago

    @Subdominator
    Disney did not do very well marketing Split/Second. Take it from someone who knows.

    And if you work in their marketing department then I can fully understand why you think you did a good job, however, in reality, you're fucking clueless.

  • RodHull #55 8 months ago

    @SwissTony

    Agree completely, the campaign quality and quantity that BV Games employed for Split/Second was both laughable and amateurish. New IP needs a solid media campaign to support it. Granted no amount of advertising is likely to bring success to new IP if it's sub par quality but Black Rock made a truly great game, as did Bizarre with Blur.

  • RFturrican #56 8 months ago

    I just fear that by the same token as befell the fate of Blur and Split/Second that the new Ridge Racer next year will sadly have the same fate, even WITH the advertising money and savvy behind it.

    It just feels that complexity and originality are what people crave now, with possibly the exception of certain genres (platformers, puzzle games etc.) and the good old fashioned arcade racer just simply cannot keep up with it.

    I am and will always be a lover of retro games and deem myself one of the hardcore (as do we all) but there are less and less of us left when it comes to embracing the teachings of the old tarmac.

    If only the defunkt workers of all of these companies could get together and do something spectacular....

  • TaniumZX #57 8 months ago

    I much prefered Blur over Split/second. Two thingsi I really hated about Split/Second were the music, its pants. and the cars? laughable. Seeing the studio close is still sad news to me tho.