RIP Evolution Studios

[Hellfire_WZ]

Closed down today. Very hard to believe considering the success they were enjoying with Driveclub.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sony-has-shut-down-driveclub-developer-evolution/0164426

[Hybrid Divide]

Well, that's a damn shame. :(

Haven't played Driveclub, but it always sucks to see smaller studios going under.

[blackwiggle]

I just read about this on the BBC news website.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35874421
The article explained the problems Evolution had initially with Drive Club, but eventually fixed.
It makes me wonder, was it the problems they had that was really the cause of the closure?, or is it Sony still thinking driving games generally are not in vogue [Since Evolution also made Motostorm]

If it's the latter, it slashes any hope of Sony pulling Wipeout out of mothballs any time soon.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Shall we start petitioning Sony again? Maybe we should send written letters, sorta like with Ross Scott's "Stop Killing Games, EA!" campaign. You can just block emails with certain keywords through a spam filter, but coming to work with letters on your desk is bound to be noticed.

[dreadofmondays]

Evolution made some money. They didn't make ALL the money. Their sales profit wasn't equivalent to the total GDP of the planet as a whole.
Clearly, shutting them down was the only reasonable option for sony to take.

[Light Buster]

Sad to see another studio go. I have a bad feeling that the gaming market is going to abandon the racing genre entirely.

[TheConzio]

I was talking about how great MotorStorm Apocalypse was with some friends and how we'd all like to see a sequel.
Later on during that same day, we found out that the studio closed down.

What a great studio it was.

[vincoof]

Historically Sony funded many studios that weren’t very profitable money-wise but were strategically interesting. Since Sony’s financial health is in such a tough spot right now, they can’t afford this deal anymore, even if the studio didn’t cost them a lot of money (the studio was rather small). When you’re broke every penny counts.

It’s hard to tell if Sony closes these studios because they really aren’t profitable or because they aren’t profitable enough and they want to send a message to other studios: “Hey, see what we did there? If you don’t bring in enough money you’re next”. I like to think they’re not capable of that because I respect what Sony has accomplished in the videogame industry up until now. But in the end no one knows how they really manage their studios.

Time will tell if Sony made the right call.

[dreadofmondays]

Time will tell if Sony made the right call.
No, it won't. Big companies like this will survive and maintain profit in the face of many, many illogical or morally repugnant decisions. It really tells us nothing at all

[vincoof]

By “made the right call” I meant if it will allow Sony to survive to their really bad situation. Of course it is not the good call for the players and obviously is even worse for the developers that were kicked out after doing a great job.

[rdmx]

Codemasters has 'acquired' Evolution Studios' staff

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-04-05-evolution-studios-joins-codemasters-hocking-becomes-vp-of-product

"So we've made a job offer to all employees and I'm happy to say that most of them have accepted and are joining us. We're only hiring employees, we are not taking any of the IP or the technology. It's purely the people we are after."

[Juissi]

That's really great of Codemasters, giving those who seemed to lose their jobs a chance while keeping the same team that worked on DriveClub as it is! :D

[terra-wrists]

offtopic: I do have a driveclub logo key ring machined out of aircraft grade aluminium... one off.

never played the game tho

[terra-wrists]

keyring ^

it's taken a battering,

[slimjim]

love the game and its good to see the staff have kept jobs some really talented people :hyper