Activision closes Shaba, halves 7 Studios News
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Robert Purchese
Activision has closed Spider-Man: Web of Shadows developer Shaba Games, laying off 61 employees.
"Activision continually evaluates the resources at our studio properties to ensure that they are properly matched to our product slate and overall strategic goals," the publisher said in a statement on Joystiq.
"As part of this process, we recently made the difficult but necessary decision to close Shaba Studios. We are grateful for the studio's contributions and wish this talented team success in their future endeavours."
Previous Shaba projects include Tony Hawk, Shrek and Shaba Ranks: The Adventures of Mr Loverman. Maybe not the last one.
Activision's resource-trimming hasn't stopped there: 30 staff - around 50 per cent - from 7 Studios are now looking for another job, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
7 Studios had been making DJ Hero rival Scratch: The Ultimate DJ for publisher Genius Products. The acquisition by Activision lead to legal action, which eventually saw Genius reunited with code and assets from the project.
Activision denied buying the 7 Studio to hold-up the rival game - which will miss its intended autumn release and head to 2010 - saying only that the purchase would "bolster its development capabilities".
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Comments: 1-23 of 23 in total
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ChthonicEcho
09/10/09 @ 07:55
+10
"As part of this process, we recently made the difficult but necessary decision to close Shaba Studios. We are grateful for the studio's contributions and wish this talented team success in their future endeavours."
It always amazes me how, in business practices, when you majorly screw someone over, you pat them on the back and wish them luck 'in their future endeavours'. |
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Ornithophobe
09/10/09 @ 08:01
+15
One day Bobby Kotick will hold a press conference explaining that he has been horribly disfigured in an attempt on his life and he will be reorganizing the games industry into the first Activision Empire.
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beastmaster
09/10/09 @ 08:02
+2
This is bad. It seems as though any developer needs to produce a hit in order to stay alive. What bothers me most about this is that it leaves devs cold about trying bold new ideas. Would MM have survived if they were not owned by Sony after the initial underwhelming sales of Little Big Planet? Even then, that's no guarantee.
As for Spiderman etc. if a dev produces high profile games which are crap and STILL don't sell then it's time for devs to start worrying.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 09/10/09 @ 09:04
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Ornithophobe
09/10/09 @ 08:03
+2
Actually I take that back, I can't get the image of Gabe Newell as a morbidly obese Yoda out of my head now.
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attacanteblue
09/10/09 @ 08:16
0
7-Studios working on DJ Hero? I think a certain judge in LA might want to know about that. Unless, of course, you just made that bit up to attract traffic.
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Anthony_Daniels
09/10/09 @ 08:19
+5
Activision, just a big gross cancer of this industry. unfortuently all you gamer lites will still go out and buy Modern Meh 2 for £45 plus and guiter hero 53 in droves.
Thunderous Applause! |
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Fatbobbybob
09/10/09 @ 09:06
+2
The headline is slightly misleading since it's scratch that lost developers not DJ Hero. The whole thing leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Let's hope the guys from Shaba can find new jobs outside of the control of Activision.
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RobotRocker
09/10/09 @ 09:16
+3
The hilarious part? Some of the laid off guys are saying that the main reason they were cut was Guitar Hero 5 severely underperformed at retail and that Activision were so desperate for it to beat Beatles Rock Band that they sacrificed dev time and bundled a free game with it just so they could say they beat EA. While it sold a decent amount, the fact that they bundled Van Halen in the US/World Tour in the EU with it cost them a lot of money that they are not making back. Prototype also underperformed badly and overall sales on Activision titles not named Call of Duty haven't been great. A couple of EX-Shabba games developers have also said that they closed the studio as "They didn't specialise in any genre" and Activision wanted to have a Franchise tied to each studio.
Losing your job in this economy sucks though, so hopefully they can get back on their feet soon enough.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 09/10/09 @ 10:17
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gav_and_the_gavster
09/10/09 @ 09:31
+1
beastmaster, I couldn't agree more. I think the future of innovation right now lies on the shoulders of indie devs.
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+1
@beastmaster
Don't worry. It's not leaving devs cold about trying new things. It's leaving devs cold about being bought or published by Activision. Basically the actions of Activision means that new devs are stearing clear of them when seeking a publisher. You still get the odd muppet who sells their souls to these devils but, people are starting to realise that getting screwed isn't a way to run a successful business. The sad thing is that even when Activision start to stumble. EA are just going to rush to fill the void and the whole sorry saga will begin anew. How did Wesley Snipes put it "There's always some mother&*^ker trying to ice skate up hill". |
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RobotRocker
09/10/09 @ 15:24
0
Turns out they didn't beat EA either
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/gu... Telling your shareholders porkies? Bad, bad move. |
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0
@the_mtfr
"Hell, 61 devs working on a Spider-Man? This is Blizzard-style development (Ubisoft too), that's 2 million a year just for salaries. " Nah, Ubi had a team of 450 people working on Ass Creed 2. First google hit: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Assassin-... And Blizzard must have many hundreds of people on their games.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/10/09 @ 09:35
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LudusSolers
12/10/09 @ 17:22
0
Just in time for Thanksgiving too. Yet more amoral practice from Activision; I really do wonder if they are going out of their way to act like complete muppets. I hope the team can find new roles soon.
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Comments: 1-23 of 23 in total
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