Boom Blox Team Axed

EALA has laid off the Boom Blox team, developers of the Wii puzzle games created in collaboration with Steven Spielberg. The LinkedIn profile of Jeff Dixon has this brief explanation: "Jeff Dixon Has joined the ranks of the EALA departed. The Boom Blox team was laid off today." We spoke briefly with Jeff, who tells us that the team was working on a Natal launch title, and adds: "I strongly believe in the future of Natal." Jeff says 14 employees were cut, and we wish them the best of luck in their job hunts.

[thetamer]

Nooooooooo! I love this game!

[Maticus]

I so didn't...

Not surprised about this, but sorry for the people out of work

[mabreu]

Sony should acquire them and make Boom Blox for their motion controller.

[baum]

This is how profitable the Wii is for 3rd parties.

[tunaks1]

"This is how profitable the Wii is for 3rd parties."

[N4g_null]

I told you it was getting worst. Big publisher are now in recoup mode. Something tells me these big publisher are abot give hd teams the ax also. IW seems to be the first one to go.

Mw2 proved the hardcore are sheep and dispute the yells of boycotting it sold thur the roof. Activision nolonger needs iw. So many aaa games are not worth the dev time to these pubs.

Believe what you will but it's not safe any more. It's put up or shut up time. What is crazy is we have not heard from the 3 that left retro ethier we wanted the concept artist bad too! Oh well. It's going to be rough going forward.

Buam please stop acting like this is the wii's fualt because it's not. Many many hd games just broke even. Hardcore gamers as a whole have let their industry down this includes the devs also.

[Dorjan]

I thought that game was a great one?

[Fyzzu]

A sad day for fans of innovative and interesting games.

[Leord]

...and a regular day in EA management...

[TheLastLevel]

You sir deserve bubbles.

My condolences to the devs and their families.

[SpoonyRedMage]

Wow, the first Boom Blox did really well, the second one did worse but still not bad...

it also seems odd to shut them down half way through a project(probably Boom Blox Natal, especially consider Spielberg).

[Smacktard]

Uh... WHY were they laid off? Boom Blox did absolutely FANTASTICALLY and Bash Party did very well too, considering that it was put out only a year after Boom Blox, and largely remained the same.

[Godmars290]

Considering that is game was one of the major "it" titles for the platform.

[SpoonyRedMage]

That's a terrible argument. What does the laying off of the IW heads tell you about dual analogs then? absolutely nothing. That's what.

We don't know why they were shut down, it doesn't seem to be because of underperformance of the titles because they were shut down whilst working on a 360(/Natal) game. Perhaps it's because EA is still losing lots and lots of money and have already axed thousands of employees.

[EvilTwin]

What Spoony said.

The original BB did well enough to warrant a sequel, and possibly even a Natal port (or new BB game altogether). But this is a business. Studios don't remain static with their employees.

[Godmars290]

Still, you have to admit its not a good thing in general that the game's apparently been canceled mid-development. That someone looked at it mid-production and found it wanting.

[ozstar]

In my view, it says more about Natal development, and sales potential for kids games on 360, than Boom Blox sales on Wii.

Boom Blox after all got a sequel. How's that other Spielberg project working out?

[EVILDEAD360]

Easily 2 of My Favorite Wii games ever..

If THESE guys are getting laid off it is really more indication that the darkest days are not behind us..

Evil

[MK_Red]

And they were among few people that actually made a good game for Wii. Guess you have to make crappy party games for Wii to keep your job.

[tunaks1]

"And they were among few people that actually made a good game for Wii. Guess you have to make crappy party games for Wii to keep your job."
First of all they made 2 good games, Second, the first sold a good amount (1.03 m) and the second did pretty good (0.24 m, keep in mind how much it cost to make this in comparison to bigger games thats sold less).

[SpoonyRedMage]

Actually there seems to be an issue with Vgchartz entry for it because if you click onto the actual game's breakdown that 240K is only for North America, it's done around 160K in Europe and some other number for Japan so it's apparently higher.

Of course it's VGchartz so it may be totally wrong although I've heard their LTDs are generally accurate.

[tunaks1]

"Actually there seems to be an issue with Vgchartz entry for it because if you click onto the actual game's breakdown that 240K is only for North America, it's done around 160K in Europe and some other number for Japan so it's apparently higher.

Of course it's VGchartz so it may be totally wrong although I've heard their LTDs are generally accurate."
thanks for pointing it out :)
All we know is that it sold enough to have a sequel

[Cajun Chicken]

I feel terrible because I keep on meaning to get these titles.

[hatchimatchi]

That sucks.

Me personally, i rented the first and didn't enjoy it at all, but it's never good to see people lose their jobs.

Hopefully they find work at another studio in a timely manner.

Best of Luck!

[lizard81288]

it was fun, until it got repetitive. going for the gold in some of the levels was a pain. the concept was so easy, i know i got mad after the 1st few silvers in one game. in fact i played 1 mini game for an hour trying to get the gold. the mini game itself lasted like under a minute. by the time the hour was done, i wanted to punch a baby in the face. thats how mad i was. never played it again.