Codemasters "terminates" Hei$t

By Robert Purchese Published 29 January, 2010

Pub's future will be internally-made games.

Codemasters has thrown bank robbery game Hei$t in the bin.

The ramifications of this move are that Codemasters will, by-and-large, no longer publish externally created games. "After a much extended development period, Hei$t has been terminated as a project and removed from our release schedule. Codemasters is focusing its future portfolio on high quality titles that will, in the majority, be developed and produced by our internal studios," read a company statement.

Codemasters' decision comes after external games like Rise of the Argonauts and Damnation scored badly and crashed commercially. Big 2009 successes for the publisher were Ashes Cricket 2009 (external - Transmission Games), DiRT 2 (internal), Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (internal). Overlord II (external - Triumph Studios) failed to make a significant impact on the UK chart, despite reviewing well.

Hei$t had been in development at inXile Entertainment, maker of spoof RPG The Bard's Tale. Announced in 2007, the game was set in a late sixties San Francisco and would follow a gang of criminals as they hatched bank robbery plans and elaborate getaways.

Noise surrounding the project had been long muted, with nothing heard after the game missed a summer 2008 release.

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 (30) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Quak #1 2 years ago

    It's "publishers", not "pubs". You're not writing a fucking text message here.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/10 @ 12:45

  • CosmicGypsy #2 2 years ago

    I am off to the publishers for a quick pint :)

  • Boomerang #3 2 years ago

    I presume it's to make it fit under the headlines, but it's highly confusing.

    It reads like Wetherspoons are branching out.

  • tomacwhite #4 2 years ago

    This is a good thing for Codies (except for the reduns of course) because every totally shit external project that comes out with their name on it is just a black mark against the company.

    With the major rumble in the "Racing Studio" recently, there is certanly lots going on at Codies... As always :)

  • linkster #5 2 years ago

    It's only a good thing if every internal project gets equal funding to make a decent game, otherwise they're just moving the problem around.

  • CosmicGypsy #6 2 years ago

    @linkster

    I was going to say something to you, but I "Bricked" it :)

  • certainutensil #7 2 years ago

    I think this has become something of a brickley subject...

  • TeaFiend #8 2 years ago

    Maybe they will rebuild external development brick by brickley. :]

  • RowdyBurns #9 2 years ago

    Brickley lads, change the subject!

  • mkreku #10 2 years ago

    Ohno! Don't drive InXile into the ground, please! Brian Fargo owns the rights to Wasteland! He has said he's working on a sequel! Nooo

  • CosmicGypsy #11 2 years ago

    @certainutensil

    BRICKley?

    I think you mean PRICK

  • metalangel #12 2 years ago

    While the games cited as poor were indeed such, the examples given of good titles aren't exactly superhits, with DiRT 2 (hated for its EXTREEEEEEEME hooting and hardly any rallying) and Operation Gashpoint: DR (which wasn't fit to lick the cowpats from the soles of the original Flashpoint's boots) both good ideas ruined by lazy design.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #13 2 years ago

    Well, I'm all for using proper english, but when typing forum posts, I use devs and pubs for short, because they are long words to write, and its likely I'll use them more than once in a post. In the context of the games, everyone understands what you mean, or should.

    This is a shame, I've been looking forward to this game for a while. I always thought it would have made a cool online team mutiplayer game, especially in the wake of TV shows like Hustle and Leverage.

  • Andee #14 2 years ago

    I was looking forward to Heist :(

  • riz23 #15 2 years ago

    One could say we have been robbed of the opportunity Andee..

  • LazyNinjaUk #16 2 years ago

    Not surprised codemasters are pulling in their reigns and playing it safe, especially after the awfulness of operation gashpoint. Was looking forward to it for so long, then as soon as I got my hands on it and managed to break both my characters legs by jumping over a low wall....I knew I was in for a bumpy ride.

    Shame though as Hei$t looked very appealing to me. :(

  • Shikasama #17 2 years ago

    They were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

  • captain_fronk #18 2 years ago

    Makes sense not to publish externally created games. Publishers should publish their own content. If it keeps the bench mark high, then I’m all for it.

  • Shikasama #19 2 years ago

    Frank - I think the danger is that it keeps the benchmark commercially viable and risk free. I'd rather not see every game come from an Activision or EA like corporation because it stifles creativity and innovation.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/10 @ 19:27

  • captain_fronk #20 2 years ago

    It could be argued that 3rd parties create games similar to painting by numbers. Its all about ticking boxes and getting something done on time. The 3rd party receives their payment risk free, while the publisher takes all the risks. As Code Masters discovered, the results are not AAA. If a publisher risks its own money on a product created in house, then its safe to assume they aim for a killer app. Where as a 3rd party developer can drift around, taking risks with others peoples money, usually boasting about the all too few success stories, while playing down the all too common lesser successes.

    Its Fronk not Frank
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/10 @ 20:07

  • Murton #21 2 years ago

    The further ramifications of this decision will be further job cuts in the QA department as Codemasters only have a couple of internal studios and they won't be able to work fast enough to keep the guys over there in a job.

    With Dirt 2 and Flopperation Gashpoint released so close to each other it could be argued that without external project there's absolutely zero need for any QA at the company for the next year or so. It's definitely bad news for those guys.

  • Mopzey #22 2 years ago

    well a couple of years ago i was looking forward to this game

  • jambo74 #23 2 years ago

    Ah, the begining of the end...no tears here.

  • metalangel #24 2 years ago

    @Murton: Watch Youtube videos of Gashpoint bugs and you'll see they should be sacked anyway.

  • Murton #25 2 years ago

    Metalangel: as I've said before, ANY bug that you have seen or read about on a forum for any game was found and reported several times by QA staff, it's up to the studio to actually fix the bugs. I've seen some of the videos showing Floppers bugs and I'm certain there are probably still some videos of much worse ones back at Codies QA.

    And I certainly don't believe that anyone ever deserves to lose their job with the exception of through their own negligence or misconduct, neither of which apply to the decision to eliminate the one thing that justifies their existence between internal projects, and it's not like Codemasters have a couple dozen studios like EA or Ubisoft...

  • green_nifta #26 2 years ago

    Heist should have been canned (at least) two years ago; it would've saved codies a *lot* of money that they can't afford to waste. If the statement about shifting to soley internal development is to be taken at face value though, it'll represent a shelving of any plans that codies had to be a significant publisher. With all internal studios working at maximum efficiency they can only release, at best, four games a year (but more likely two, or three (with a favourable wind)). Hardly a global player.



  • JimWest #27 2 years ago

    If you guys commenting could make it anymore obvious you work for (or at least used to work for) Codemasters that would be just great!
    Edited by 1 at 31/01/10 @ 01:33

  • Gunzberg #28 2 years ago

    Shortening publishers to "pubs" was a foolish idea

  • john_silence #29 2 years ago

    Damn. Heist had potential.

  • Shikasama #30 2 years ago

    Jim, I work for no man of woman born...if I can help it.

    That's a fair point frOnk, but that is also the Path of Kotick. I think I've just been warped by the EA and Activision idea of 'make it, sequel it, triquel it and make a spin off for the DS.'

    I miss the days when a game could just be a game without it having to be a brand aswell.