It’s doubtful what number of more folks are selecting to go outdoors and luxuriate in life, but one thing is for certain: there’s less showing as much as play recent titles. Whether or not it’s from yet one more studio buyout, followed by the inevitable layoffs after the brand new and former owner(s) state how excited they’re in regards to the joining of families, or yet one more failed launch resulting in closures, there’s a brand new constant within the gaming industry of consistent bad news for developers and publishers.
Probably the most recent, and removed from being the one, in the previous couple of weeks, is that Full Circle Studio is anticipated to put off staff after player counts have plummeted for EA’s latest Skate game. The live service title is one among many where gaming audiences selected to maneuver on from after launch, and 6 months in, numbers (per TechPowerUp, who has a deep rabbit hole of stories pertaining to this topic) are within the 2,000s. An analogous variety of players are all that’s left for Wildlight Entertainment’s free-to-play title, Highguard, which only just launched in January. An ex-developer for the sport has already confirmed on social media that the vast majority of its team had been laid off.
Meanwhile, Sony, which had just revealed more God of War projects are in development, has closed Bluepoint Games, which was rumored to be working on a web based multiplayer GoW title. It has also been announced that Tencent has closed its TiMi Montreal studio, which had previously released some moderately successful mobile titles, before it could launch its first AAA game. This was preceded by the closure of Spliced, a studio which NetEase had just put together.
Just yesterday, Nacon filed for insolvency following last week’s release of Styx: Blades of Glory. Nacon has experienced mixed levels of success with its titles, which include RoboCop, Hell Is Us, GreedFall 2, and its try to revive the Test Drive franchise with Test Drive Unlimited. The publisher said the next in its statement (per IGN).
“The aim of this procedure is to evaluate all possible solutions to make sure the sustainability of the Company’s activity under the very best possible conditions, protect employees, and preserve jobs, while renegotiating with its creditors in a relaxed and constructive framework,”
– Nacon
Ubisoft, which continues to try to portray some semblance that every little thing is okay by making multiple recent game announcements, presumably to appease its investors, laid off one other 40 employees last week at its Toronto studio, following 500 laid off before, as a part of its current restructuring strategy that would see as much as 18% of its total staff being cut.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though, as Arc Raiders continues to take care of a high player count, showing that while audiences have abandoned some titles, they’re keen to play titles they enjoy, and maybe studios have to focus more on that detail than on a checklist, formulaic approach. Meanwhile, the upcoming online multiplayer Horizon Hunters Gathering is about to enter Beta Testing, and Bungie’s Marathon is anticipated to finally launch in March, so we’ll just should wait and see how these online games fare.