Hope remaining for Studio Liverpool?
It has emerged over the weekend that the staff cuts at Studio Liverpool were not as drastic as first feared. In fact, it would appear that several of the core development team responsible for WipEout HD and Fury have escaped the axe.
However, with the loss of many long term staff members who were involved with WipEout projects over the years, it remains to be seen what impact last week’s events will have on the WipEout franchise long-term.
The list of casualties does include the WipEout technical director (worked on ’Fusion, ’Pure, ’Pulse, ’HD & ’Fury), the WipEout Game Director (worked on ’Pure, ’Pulse, ’HD & ’Fury), and the producer who worked on ’Pure, ’Pulse, ’HD & ’Fury. Add these to the designers and Studio Director who, in combination, worked on all of the games since the PS2 era having left in the final months of 2009, and it’s clear that there’s now a deficit at Studio Liverpool in terms of experience and continuity.
With many Studio Liverpool staff being farmed out to projects such as Motorstorm & Killzone over the past couple of years since the "merger" with Evolution Studios, it will be interesting to see whether new titles from the WipEout Franchise, or any other IP for that matter, will emerge from the once proud Studio.