What should happen to the Wipeout series now?

[RJ O'Connell]

The floor is yours gentlemen.

[RedScar]

Well does Sony own the creative rights to wipeout? I'd imagine they do when they purchased Psygnosis, so a direct sequel with the WO tag is impossible for former SL employees. Hell, it would be an issue to make a WO-ish game since it is a prime sony property and I'm sure they'd sue if given the chance.

I'd love to see another WO made, or WO-ish game but it is a tough sell. WO has always had a smaller audience then most other game, and HD is no different. This is mostly on fault with Sony's PR (or lack of) for their hit PSN title. I bought the game after my experience with WO on my PS1, PSP and N64, but I had no idea that it had been released and came across it by chance on the PSN store.

With the gaming industry being more about money and less about making games for people, a game with a small audience is a hard thing to get made. Maybe a cross-platform title would have more success, maybe it wouldn't. Regardless of who is making the next title (if it ever comes out), I'd hope that care and craftsmanship would be on the forefront much like HD.

Then again, as much as I love the series, it has had its success and deserves almost to be left alone. I'm not going to a vote yet because I'm unsure.

[Kyonshi]

My bet: WipEout/SL developers are recovered by a major studio.

First of all, the shocking news of SL dismantled went all around video game world, most major studios surely have an hint about that.

What should happen with SL team is that some major studio recognize the formidable crew they are and hire the guys back. Then make an offer to $ony about the WipEout rights. $ony should accept and sell it to the most offering, since they demonstrated they don't really care about a 15 years successful series by dumping SL to nothing. They care about money, so they should accept. In the worst case, they will stubbornly refuse to sell it and let it waste itself in the backstore for years to come.

But the scenario of another major studio recovering the series and SL crew is not impossible. Remember, when Acclaim died, EA took over the Burnout series and gave birth to the famous Burnout 3: Takedown, one of the most successful racing game ever on PS2. People don't freak out, its just an example, i DO NOT wish that EA takes over WipEout! xD

WipEout can't just die and disappear into oblivion. Any major studio knows how much WipEout legacy contributed to the evolution of racing genre and video gaming itself. Surely, somewhere, somehow, WipEout will revive with the help of a group of people who really knows the value of the series. I'm not giving hope! :D:+

[Cerbis]

I think the future of Wipeout very much depends on where Sony wants to take it.
SCE seems to have been rather disinterested in the series over the last few years.
On top of that, apparently very few of the original staff is left at what Studio Liverpool is being restructured into...

If the old staff even gets together under a new name, they most likely wouldn't be able to make a sequel
under the Wipeout name and I doubt Sony would relinquish the property to a third party, any third party.

Our best bet is for another studio at Sony to pick up the flag and hope that we don't get another Wipeout Fusion.
No offense to the people who worked on Wipeout Fusion, but I felt it was pretty un-Wipeout in its looks and feel.

Sorry guys, I really think this is the end of the line... :frown:

... at least from Sony. Spiritual sequels on the other hand... 8)

[Koleax]

When I think about the pricing and advertising controversies in WHD, I wonder if one or more people were intentionally reckless with Wipeout so they could focus on making other games. Sounds silly, but it matches the silliness of those decisions.

Really, was I the only one who saw this coming a year and a half ago? Of course the studio was going under. We were lucky to have Fury, but given the large disparity between its price and actual value, it was just another nail in the coffin.

[OneAVGNFan]

Wipeout is far from dead, but who will be the most likely canidate to continue the series?:?:

[DawnFireDragoon]

i imagine sony will pursue (what remains of)the old team/evolution to make another WipEout game at some stage, the worrying thing is what they will do.

Take this article, for example, talking about rebooting Twisted Metal series.

http://www.destructoid.com/twisted-metal-is-not-confirmed-but-could-be-a-reboot-162138.phtml

I could see Sony trying to do this to WipEout, they always want to get these games more mainstream and more popular. But for some reason with WipEout recently, that has meant changing elements of the game, instead of the more obvious 'actually advertise your awesome games' approach. Wipeout HD could have been a lot bigger than it was. It was all handeled a little poorly when it came to marketing.

I wouldn't mind a reboot if it was done properly, but with half of studio liverpool gone and the series' future been shrouded in mystery i'm a little concerned.

Also, i'm a little unclear, does 'Studio Liverpool' still exist, as a named department/team, or is it all just 'evolution studios' now?

[ProblemSolver]

Would be the best time for Nintendo to grab the former SL guys and start
developing a next F-Zero GX many people are waiting for on the Wii console.

Option 3, obviously.

[rejj]

where's my "it doesn't matter who or where, as long as barrel rolls are removed" option?

[ProblemSolver]

lol xD

[yeldar2097]

yeldar is not amused by this.

BRs are the sex.

On topic: I want to see another WO but with some (all) of the SL crew there - not some dirty, wanna-be tossers.

[SenGoku81]

According to what is on Wikipedia, this isn't the end of the line for the WipEout series. More so, a new dawn. However I too well understand the follies of believing a website like Wiki as absolute gospel.

Anyway, the quote from the Wikipedia article on Studio Liverpool, Verbatim:

"On 29 January 2010 Sony made the following public statement; "It has been decided that production on a number of projects within Studio Liverpool will cease immediately due to project prioritisation. Our North West Studio Group has been and will continue to be a vital cog in the WWS family, with a history of producing genre defining games such as MotorStorm, WipEout, Formula 1 and WRC and this decision will have no impact of the role that the North West Studio Group will play in the future of all PlayStation platforms."

What comes of my interpretation of this is that Sony wish to focus on the more popular productions (WipEout??!) and give them more development, money etc.

As with all things, only time will tell. We must await a clarification of the matter before drawing conclusions.

Still though, its Sony total tripping balls sacking the guys from SL regardless of whether or not it intends to carry the series on!

[Medusa]

Personally I can't even vote any of those options. It feels like talking ill about the dead when they're not even buried yet.

Sony isn't likely going to give up on the franchise after it went so big as a downloadable game. Whatever they do with it, the most I'm hoping for is that they keep at least one of the original creators in the production.

One is better than none. That being said, if they're going to change the game even more to sell more copies, it doesn't matter what kind of continuation people are bringing as they work on it. Money rules, and these days not even Sony can risk losing any. What the top dog says will be done.:|

[defor]

It's no news that prior Psygnosis properties such as lemmings and wipeout have seemingly gotten the "EA" treatment, and I'd say that it's rather clear that wipeout has been seen at least somewhat as a tradeshow/techdemo asset by Sony. I'm glad that at least some of the longstanding staff have remained, and with that hope, it would be nice to see a future for the series, but as (at least here in the states) racing games have become much more of a niche market, it'll be curious to see how Sony treats the series, which in my opinion, really isn't turning the direct sales profits that would be preferred. Of course, as fans, we see it as "Oh no, there might not be another Wo", but this was the case 10 years ago as well.

The future of the franchise really IS up to Sony as I read it, that all Psygnosis IP is theirs to continue or abandon, and I'd say that well, as the sales figures stack up, Wo is on the chopping block itself, not just the remains of what everyone still would like to believe is Psygnosis.

Psygnosis has NOT created any real NEW material since Sony, and in the gaming world this means one thing, they're really not at liberty to. Pure was the first new entry to the series since Fusion, and given its status as a launch title, was obviously key to Sony's attempts to poise the PSP as a serious contender among not just other handhelds, but all consoles.

Technologies such as downloadable content, adhoc multiplayer, expansion packs, game sharing, were all present and accounted for, making Pure one of the most full-featured games on the platform. Even features such as Wipeout World were clearly present in the game engine, although not implemented in any core form until the sequel, Wipeout Pulse.

Pulse, Pulse PS2, HD, Fury, however, all share a MASSIVE amount of internal similarities, from the early review code for Pulse being a straight recompile of Pure, to numerous game assets lifted straight out of the previous games.

The reality is that SL has been working wonders on a tight budget, regardless of the limitations in sales and advertising placed on them by Sony, but as interest for the series is waning as the game becomes less and less of a mainstream title, someone had to make a cut.

I'm saddened that the now-ex SL employees can do nothing to further the franchise directly, and due to this cut in staff, as stated, SL may be reduced to doing work on other existing franchises outside of Psygnosis original library, but in the end, all good things must come to an end (or, if Sony's listening, we all may be pleasantly surprised).

~

I wish the best of luck to everyone involved in Psygnosis, SL, and now ex-SL, and personally, I think it's our job as fans to either further the series on our own, or keep the interest alive, and keep on racing.

[blackwiggle]

Sony won't relinquish the IP rights to wipeout,you can take that as written in stone.

So since half of what was the internal development team at SL are now unemployed ,who would finish the wipeout SL was working on?

I think we will see another wipeout ,either they [the now co-joined teams] will finish what was started by SL ,depends how close it had got to a finished product,or a totally new wipeout will be started at a later date, but with a lot of changes since the old crew are no longer there.

I suppose that since what's left of SL & EVO are now housed in the same complex this would be the default team that,if any,will be the ones to get a new wipeout happening.

Time will tell.

[PLazarou]

The very fact they've halved the size of SL shows that Wipeout is not a priority for Sony.

The game can return, no question about that - as was mentioned in another thread, the formula for making a great Wipeout game is very clear. As long as there are people passionate enough about the series, they shouldn't get it wrong.

It's just not going to happen for a long time. Maybe not until the next generation.

[gordo1974]

Personally I can't even vote any of those options. It feels like talking ill about the dead when they're not even buried yet.

.:|

I second that. The thing that puzzles me is that the design studio are clearly kick ass.
-They've a track record of pushing the hardware hard. Really hard. They've been used to showcase the raw power of the P3 as well.
-They've produced one of the best game series ever, on any platform and because of some poor marketing/sales desicions, the developers carry the can.

This doesn't quite seem fair. I'd like to know the fate of the marketing dept.?

Anyway. In life, you can't keep a good thing down, so I'm optimistic that the SL guys will do well. Afterall, can you imagine having
"developed Wipeout" on your cv?
Here's wishing them all the luck.

[RJ O'Connell]

I took the third-party route at first just because I'd like to see the series on the PC, with all sorts of neat mods and dedicated servers for online play. Not to mention someone like Codemasters or even Capcom could do a better job at promoting the series. That said, Evolution Studios could still make a good Wipeout game that might even be better than XL (gasp!).

FYI: I made this thread before we found out that the layoffs at SL weren't as bad as first reported, and before then nearly 95% of the active users (myself included) were talking about SL as if they'd already been shut down for good despite no official announcement from Sony that says "yes, we're shutting down the Liverpool studio".

[Rubix42]

Ultimately, based on the fact that Sony farmed out development of the PSP Motorstorm to another studio, it either means that the joined teams at SL/EVO are working on 1 of 3 things.

1)New Motorstorm for PS3
2)New Wipeout for PS3
3)Unconfirmed IP either new or sequel.

Based on the pedigree and history of the studios, I'm going with option 1 or 2 as my guess. Seeing as Motorstorm had 3 games released within 3 years of each other, I'm guessing they are working on a Wipeout PS3. And I bet that we still see it this fall. My assumption is based solely on the fact that everytime Sony shows off it's 3D tech for the PS3, they are running either Wipeout or Gran Turismo. If Wipeout is one of their goto's for showcasing new tech, it only makes sense that they would provide a new entry in the series.

[wipeout rocks]

lets just hope that sl reform and get going again

[ProblemSolver]

@Rubix42: Your conclusion sounds pretty sweet.

[aethernet]

Funny, I've always just assumed that we would keep getting updates for WOHD until PS4 came out.

[Koleax]

Man, who knows?

It seems the "redundancies" in question were not removed primarily from the ground-level artists and coders, but from management (including the technical director and the game director, whom infoxicated mentioned as has having responsibility for the post-purchase advertising). It may be that much of the talent that went into WHD remains, but the vision that directed that talent does not.

Does this mean we could see something very different in terms of updates to WHD, if any? Perhaps not, since new management could assign tracks from Pure and Pulse to be HD-ified, which may not require the vision of previous management. Since it appears that the most wanted DLC would be additional tracks, I'm hoping that at least this is still possible.

Of course new people could breath new life into the franchise, the same way that Pure and Pulse directors did.

[Xavier]

I'd like to know what was in the projects that were suddenly cancelled.

HD/Fury, as amazing as they are, still feel somewhat unfinished, as if there were a third part still waiting in the wings. The game carried a low price; there were billboards (Tigron? Van-Über?) for teams not yet in the game; there were features in Pulse, such as ship skins, that hadn't been implemented despite it being more necessary (online racing is a bigger part of HD; distinctive ships for the users would be great).

Was there a third part to HD? Was it nearly finished, and the final HD installment, which is why Sony no longer needs many of the developers?

I like Rubix's ideas. I hope there's some finished material that'll actually be released and not tossed aside.

[SaturnReturn]

I don't think there was a third part to HD. Why would they have introduced adverts if there were? They must surely have known that it would only alienate current and future customers, and yet it went ahead anyway. So someone must have decided that those customers weren't too important...

Then there's the Blu Ray. It's released as HD/Fury as one package. As the game had already been out for some time, and coupled with ads situation, I think this says, "That's all folks".

[PLazarou]

I don't think there was going to be a third part to HD either (not as significant as Fury anyway), but I don't see the addition of advertisements and the disc release as any indication of that. The ads weren't put on because they decided the customers 'weren't important' - they were put on because they believe the community is active enough for ads to be financially viable. If anything, the ads are a positive indication of the number of people playing the game.

They could have easily done (could still do?) a small ship pack DLC - it would be applied in a patch so that everyone could see the new ships online (in the same way that those without Fury can see the Fury ships online), and you'd have to pay a small amount (say £2.99 for two new teams) to use them.

[rushin]

hmm, apparently i am the lone dissenter who voted for retirement.

let wipeout be a shining example of how awesome games can be, better than trying to keep it alive and losing a little of the spirit with every iteration.

i liked the tracks in fury, everything else was pretty much meh. it takes so much away from the ultra clean, fast, pure racing game that wipeout used to be. let it lie, enjoy what you have and keep the memory precious.

best of luck to all the ex-SL people though, hope you find/have found new and rewarding things to do with yourselves :)

[PLazarou]

How does adding new modes take away from the standard modes? They are separate, and you don't have to play them (unless you are a campaign completist). The core Wipeout racing remains as pure in the latest iteration as it ever was.

[drell]

I have voted: The former SL staff should go to a third-party developer and continue with the series.
If Sony is incapable of finding out what Wipeout did for them back for PS1, they should not be allowed to prevent the passion of the Studio Liverpool to express itself. Studio Liverpool should be recreated independent from Sony and continue Wipeout, maybe with other name to avoid legal trouble.

[Aeroracer]

maybe there going to put percy jackson into wipeout..cos i keep see his ugly face in my game already..

[XpanDrome2097]

Studio Liverpool should be recreated independent from Sony and continue Wipeout, maybe with other name to avoid legal trouble.

Nice!
I hope in this, if the "WipEout" saga is still copyrighted bt Sony, same idea: a new series with all the most popular teams, same shape's design but different names.
Strange but good, and I think that it's the better solution to see another racing game based on WipEout guidelines.