PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Developer SuperBot Lays Off Around 20 Employees

Hardcore Gamer: After two years in development, PlayStaton All-Stars Battle Royale was released to much anticipation and a solid critical reception. Apparently, that wasn’t enough, as reports are coming in that the studio has laid off around 20 people.

[NYC_Gamer]

How bad were PSA sales?i know the game didn't have any kind of real marketing though...

[jujubee88]

They where hiring just a few weeks ago so it's not like it sold bad enough to warrant people thinking the sky is falling on such a awesome studio. :/

[Skips]

Pretty much, they were just hiring like last month. lol

http://www.examiner.com/art...

I guess they're just trimming the fat. Sucks for those 20 people though, hope they find something soon.

[guitarded77]

This happens post launch with every studio... unless they have many other projects to push people to. They could just be temporary until another project comes along, or a current project goes further into development. This happens in every realm of software... especially in smaller studios.

[Red_Orange_Juice]

Man Sony, they need to stop making games NOBODY asks for, I consider myself 95% ideal target for PS products and I wasnt even slightly interested in that game (also neverwanted Vita), in my opinion it was unnecessary, FORCED, unappealing visuals. If anything they should make it like MvC or SF (2vs2)

Sony does some great things, but they need to stop making games nobody asks for, its a waste of resources.
What these games have in common:
- All Stars
- MAG
- Socom4
- Motorstorm
- Twisted Metal (supposedly barely broke even)

they all bombed hard, I have my fingers crossed for Dust514 cos that gamehave same mad potential

and PSALBR had a poor ass character rooster, its not even debatable

[guitarded77]

@ Red_Orange_Juice

Every game you listed, I bought and thoroughly enjoyed. Not every game is gonna be a monster hit in terms of sales. Sometimes a game is an investment in offering the best catalog possible which spurs software sales elsewhere.

MotorStorm has sold almost 4 million worldwide, just for the first installment. That's successful enough for sequels.

MAG sold over a million at retail worldwide, but at its peek, it had a solid online community.

SOCOM 4 got screwed releasing the week of the infamous PSN outage.

I don't know why Twisted Metal got such low sales... it seemed like everyone was asking for the game, and everyone on n4g got so excited when it was revealed... Maybe it was because it launched with too many other games around it.

All-Satrs is a great game too. Sure it could use more game modes, but with the cross-buy for PS3 and Vita, I think I got my money's worth. Really fun game... for single player, and especially local multi-player.

Sure Sony may have lost some money on some of those titles, but offering more experiences is what keeps Sony consoles the most important part of my gaming rig.

[Red_Orange_Juice]

I'm not saying those games are bad or cant be enjoyed, I just think there's too many bad choices. More Demon's Souls, and Ni No Kuni.

Yea like vast majority of Motorstorm sales were bundles, thats how I got it. That game was basiclly an extended demo and thats understanable to some extent. As far as I know ever other MS game sold worse and worse. Only RC did decent.

Everybody loves Wipeout, How about full fledged, AAA, disc based Wipeout game, not PSN game. Would double Motorstorm sales.

Maybe Sony should stop reading forums and n4g and just put some guys at gamestop to see what's selling.

also add Starhawk to that list

[MaxXAttaxX]

Games YOU didn't ask for. There's a difference.
__

@Sonic200 , @jujubee88
Was not aware of that. So if they're hiring then it's likely they're upgrading themselves.

[Caffo01]

@Red_orange_juice
MAG is awesome,i bet everyone who bashes it never played it more than 2 hours, it deserved a lot more praise..

[Capt-FuzzyPants]

This game had better marketing than some of their other exclusives. I saw the commercial with real actors all the time on TV.

[SoundGamer]

This is what happens when people don't buy games. Sad to hear. Too many studios have been going under, including a ton of Sony's studios. Great games don't get purchased and supported by the gaming community and people lose their jobs.

Part of the blame falls on Sony though, for horrible marketing.

[Temporary]

A "ton" of Sony studios? lol ...

Care to list them for us?

[Skips]

Well, one VERY SMALL STUDIO that I've never heard of until they actually closed down. BigBig Studios.

Another which practically closed themselves down by completely ignoring their fanbase by turning Socom (One of Sony's best franchises) into crap. Zipper Interactive.

And Liverpool, which merged with Evolution.

[DOMination-]

Team Ico. Merged with SCE Japan and their project given to SSM to finish.

Team Soho. Merged with SCE London

[phantomexe]

I didn't enjoy the beta so i never picked it up and I'm not a big fighting game fan ether. I didn't enjoy the controls in case you were wondering. Only fighting game i ever enjoyed for longer then a day i won't mention.

[princejb134]

Beta was good for 2 days than the kill system got repetitive and boring
Smash is a much simpler funner fighter

I just hope they fix the killing system if they decide to make a all stars 2

[mcstorm]

Supergamer I agree with what you are saying. People say Ms have not had enough new ips in the last few years but look at the new ips that have come on and not really hit the ground running. Alan wake, blur, splitsecond just to name a few. I know they are not all exclusive games but this gem has been a hard gem to see new ips it's all gun games at the moment.

Sony have had some very good games this gem but it's really only been GT and UC that have sold well. I see what Sony are trying to do and that is make a name for it's self like Nintendo have done with it's big names but I think they have gone about it all wrong and looked at the wrong market with games like lbp, mnr and psasbr.

It is a start for them with there own brands but the way the world is to day it's hard to get your name out there unless it's shown off in the right way.

Look at the MS surface it blows any Android and IPad out the water with it's looks the way it can be used but MS have not sold it in the way it has made people think I want that.

I see Sony changing things around a little next gem and not giving us as many new ips but pushing the ones they have now to the core and none core market and depending on what Microsoft and Nintendo have in store for us it could work out well for Sony next generation.

[ILive]

God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Killzon's 2&3, infamous, journey, little big planet, and the first two resistance. Resistance 3 sold well, but not on par with the first two. See, if Sony stuck to just uncharted and gt for the entirety of this Gen gamers would not have been blessed with such titles. I applaud Sony for their efforts, and I hope they continue to support the next PlayStation like they did the Ps3.

By the way, Alan Wake just wasn't as compelling as it could have been. If Ms had put money in a creative and exciting ip, it would have sold well. Also, i think most Xbox owners only play shooting games because a game like the witcher 2 did not do well on the console. I am only kidding about the last part. The witcher 2 is a great game that deserves to played even though it is not exclusive to the system.

[mcstorm]

I know what you are saying and I agree but GOW is not a new IP and KZ is not a new IP. LBP sold well but the 2nd one did not domas well as the 1st. Even though I loved it. Resistance numbers also went down the more that came out.

Im not saying they should just stick to the big ips but I would like them to offer more time and input into there new ips and big names. Look at GT and UC2 and 3 they were on the tv a lot but KZ3 Resistance LBP MS ect were not.

For me I don't care about sales as I own all 3 consoles and get the games I want for each console but I wish MS Nintendo and Sony would help developers push some of there games.

Also the ps3 owners only play shooter to look at the top selling games on both consoles. Its Nintendo consoles that are not about shooters.

[majiebeast]

Sony needs better commercials a guy in a fat princess costume isnt gonna make people buy a game. When do these advertisement agency's get that you need to show a lot of gameplay. Gamers could make better commercials for games then most ad agency's these days.

The gameplay of the game was really good but presentation and extra's fell short. It even got a tournament at the Socal regionals which was amazing too watch.

[delicia]

They need to bring Kevin Butler back.

[mwjw696]

Sony fucked him over big time, he will NEVER work near them again.

http://kotaku.com/5976683/s...

[Blastoise]

Honestly I thought that was one of the better Playstation adverts

[dudeOplenty]

I enjoyed PSASBR but there's definitely a hint of incompetence at SuperBot. After 5 patches, the game is still suffering from bugs that were in the beta. Hopefully, this isn't a sales issue but SuperBot just cutting the unneeded fat.

[CatXFlash]

Its always sad to see someone lose a job.

[pompombrum]

I personally thought the game just didn't look fun. The whole idea of only scoring points with super moves or whatever seemed pretty lame on paper at least. I might pick it up if I can get it on sale and give it a chance but the way it sounded, the videos I saw, even as a huge fan of fighting games, it had very little appeal to me nor did it look that complex.

[BigBoss1964]

Hang on weren't they just hiring a while back? probably some temps

[Soldierone]

It has nothing to do with the game sales.... People do it all the time. They hire help to get the game out on time, then when its done they let them go.

Lucas is known for this in the movie industry. They hire tons of people to make a Star Wars movie, then let pretty much all of them go. Its why its called a resume job.

[zebramocha]

I did not know that,I think what might've hurt the potential sales is the price,while fun I believe fighters don't have enough to warrant a $60 price tag $40 would be a better price.

[Soldierone]

I agree, but I think a lot of games would benefit from a 40 dollar price tag. People simply can't afford to buy a game at 60 dollars, especially if another game they want is releasing the same month.

The good news is that the game is now 40 dollars, and it still includes the Vita version.

[wenaldy]

But troll doesn't care lol

[MaverickStar7]

While not good for the people, this is common among game studios. Most studios that are not working on multiple titles will see a round of layoffs post launch when the workload does not require so many people. Sometimes these are full time employees, sometimes they were just contract employees and not really layoffs.

I think Sony needs to pick it up on the marking. They have a lot of great games that are just not getting enough sales.

[stuna1]

The sad truth is no Developers, Game studio, Producer, or Console maker is exempt from this situation!

Whether people want to attribute poor software sales, incompetence, or the economic climate to the state of of gaming in general, these are troubling times for us as gamer in general!

I am fearful that we are headed toward another gaming crash! or at the very least next gen consoles are going to take the hit.

[Soldierone]

It's showing a lot of the signs. A significant reason the first crash happened was the quality of games diminished, honestly feel that is starting to happen again. Think about it. Its FPS after FPS, and buggy mess after buggy mess. Third parties are afraid to be creative. The only difference is its not the indie companies making crap games, its the major publishers.

[stuna1]

I definately agree. A lot of good and original title have been pushed aside because the main stream gamer have been redirected to the next FPS in the long line of FPS!

Don't get me wrong, I like shooters just like the next man! It's just that there are so many other genre in gaming to choose from that don't necessarily require you to shoot something.

[zoks310]

Companies are like people in a way, in the summer or the slower months they lean up or in this case tone down payroll to make it through the slower parts of the year without wasting money.
Then comes the winter, the busy retail period where they bulk up to get through their dead lines.

The best companies need to be very efficient during slower periods and in business being efficient means cutting expenses. Sucks but I rather see 20 people get laid off than the whole company going belly up.

[Adva]

It always is like this.
When they need help, temporary people are hired. Once a product ship,s they are let go.

[lodossrage]

it's not.

Reason being, Superbot just hired more people about two weeks ago. So for all we know those positions where people are getting laid off were meant to be temporary in the first place.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

True but it could also be sales which is most likely the case. I doubt this game sold 500k let alone over a milli. I have the game (deethagee gamer tag) so I supported them unlike a lot of fanboys who just like to scream how many exclusives they have but don't support them.

[lodossrage]

If that were the case, they wouldn't be hiring in the first place.

I doubt sales changed that drastically within the span of two weeks to make them hire and then fire two weeks later.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

To many exclusives...that's what Sony Fanboys love to scream. There's soany exclusives that no one is buying them. Sony needs to slow down with releasing so many games, starve the PS community a bit then maybe some of these games will sell better so devs can keep their jobs.

[League_of_Draven]

That's what happens when you make a game that fans have dreamed of for years and then fill it with a bunch of advertisements instead of iconic characters that people wanted in the game from the beginning.

[tiffac008]

I wish the gaming journalist tried to find the reason for these layoffs first since the very same studio was hiring just about a month ago. The lack of info in the news just makes things confusing.

[strigoi814]

and yet some people defend piracy is good?? Just try to imagine if a game doesnt sell well this lay off employees and company get bankrupt if it got pirated badly..lolz

On topic: i hope them best

[Psychonaut]

I wish all the best to the employees let go, as for the game I hope to hear more in regards to DLC characters.