Layoffs at OnRush dev Evo, Driveclub director Rushy let go

From Eurogamer: "The developer of Driveclub has been hit by layoffs after its latest game, OnRush, failed to set tills ringing.

Driveclub and OnRush director Paul "Rushy" Rustchynsky - the face of both games and of the studio itself - is among those let go, multiple sources close to the studio have confirmed to Eurogamer, alongside other senior members of the team."

[italiangamer]

I knew this game bombed hard, I think they never reached the top 10 in UK even in the launch week. Evo just cant catch a break.

[KyRo]

Its such a shame because OnRush is a really good game. You can tell it didnt have that Sony money behind it but it was a good game overall.

[Gaming101]

Publishers is so stupid, they had a great game with a great team that made a racing game that is still unmatched graphically and they pissed it all away. No marketing dollars, no promotion, no one knows the game even exists.
Either Sony or Microsoft should have at least marketed the game. I've never seen it on Playstation store as a new game. It's a full price game and should have been given full price marketing, and of course money grubbing publishers don't want to spend the money or even do something creative like a cheaper viral marketing campaign. Oh well -_-

[fr0sty]

Driveclub had tons of marketing, it had a botched launch and didn't work right for months.

[rainslacker]

I didn't even know it released. I hadn't heard about it since the announcement, then forgot about it.

[execution17]

Lack of advertising probably killed it

[SierraGuy]

Same here...too bad I was excited when it announced.

[blackblades]

The scores were good, but it seems nobody gave a $h!!! and wasn't talked about at all

[jay2]

All the issues with Driveclub show how bad the studio actually is it just needs to be closed down it's not going to get anywhere horses that sound

[Gardenia]

Driveclub had some problems at launch but the game itself and the support it got after was great. Still to this day it is one of the best looking driving games

[monkey602]

Evolution were a fantastic studio. DriveClub got off the a bad start but it ultimately became excellent. Motorstorm was also an incredible series

[rainslacker]

All the issues?

You mean that one issue which got blown uo to epic proportions with the online connectivity at launch, which was fixed within a couple weeks?

[Obscure_Observer]

@rainslacker

"You mean that one issue which got blown uo to epic proporcionas with the online connectivity at launch, which was fixed within a couple weeks?"

"Epic proporcions"? That game took 11 years to be developed! It was supposed to be a PS4 launch game. Sony gave Evolution a full year to fix that game and after delay after delay, Driveclub´s MAIN feature which is SOCIAL racing wasn´t working as it should at launch because online connectivity issues?

Talk about damage control. I´m not championing Sony´s decision on shutting down Evolution Studios by any means, but to say Evolution didn´t screw things up big time at launch is denial.

I can´t wait to see if you gonna take easy on Crackdown 3 if MP turn out to be a mess on launch.

[rainslacker]

OP talked about the issues. The only launch issue was that the online wasn't working. So, no challenges from other players and no online races. That was the only issue at launch. The offline stuff worked perfectly fine.

Those issues were fixed within about three weeks.

I never said they didn't screw anything up. They should have tested the game better before launch, and they could have found the server code which was causing the memory leak on their servers which caused everything to stall.

There may have been issues during development, but the title being delayed isn't an issue with the release of the game. Just means people would have to wait for it.

It's not damage control, it's calling people out that act like the game was complete and utter trash.

I called out the DC problems at launch. But, since the SP was working fine, I let it slide some because the game was good, and told people pretty much what I said here and said that they were blowing it out of proportion. I also offered up likely technical reasons why the game worked fine for reviewers before launch, only to have a problem when confronted with thousands of users.

If CD3 is the same way, then how I approach it will depend on the situation, and if I approach it remains to be seen, because quite personally, I don't really care that much about the game, and only really care to see the cloud tech implemented.

[Wotbot]

Onrush looked really good, shame

[enviable27]

Its a really fun game, just priced wrong.

[CurbStompin]

Only thing thats held me back is the price, Waiting on that $39.99 price tag.

[KyRo]

Here in the UK it's £25 in Tesco. It's prices like this why I will never fully embrace digital only when physical is much more cheaper in the UK.

[mikegekko]

It is a beautiful game, but I just couldn't find any depth to it, no matter how hard I tried. I agree, putting it in the 29.99 range would have probably gone a long way.

[sypher]

By all accounts a great little game. Such a shame it never found an audience.

It's always sad to see new innovative titles fail to sell, and the team behind it let go. The games industry is all the poorer for it, and causes companies in future to not take the same risks.

[Cmv38]

Sony.... do the smart thing, make a new studio. Their games aren't bad, plus we need a new motostorm.

[Omegasyde]

I would kill for another motorstorm

[SierraGuy]

And DC for those who know.

[mikegekko]

This very much, or something like it at least :(

[Jinger]

That's a shame since OnRush is a really fun game

[sprinterboy]

Didn't realise the game was out yet tbh, shame it was on my radar. Don't get much luck those guys and girls

[TheColbertinator]

Unfortunate what happened to the talent at Evolution.

[darthv72]

Maybe MS should snatch them up and add them to their Forza teams.

[Sitdown]

And bring back PGR!

[monkey602]

I really want a PGR game! Or I'd be more than content if they added bikes to Forza Horizon

[Obscure_Observer]

@darthv72

"Maybe MS should snatch them up and add them to their Forza teams."

Hopefully. They´are very talented people and their weather effects are top notch!

[senorfartcushion]

As a gamer who hates racing games, OnRush was initially surprisingly enticing to me. I was actually buying OnRush until I found out that it had no traditional racing modes. My interest dropped completely.

[Sitdown]

This is full of contradictions!

[Yi-Long]

Weird how Codemasters would hire such a clearly talented studio, which released a critically acclaimed game, and then just go ahead and fire them all.

Almost makes you think they were purely hired in order to get their hands on the technical prowess that was behind the amazing Driveclub, and now that they have it, they dumped those responsible for it...

[Switch4One]

Are you calling Onrush critically acclaimed or do you mean DriveClub? Neither is correct but I want to know to what extent you are wrong.

[Kumakai]

That sucks. OnRush is actually super fun. It needs some updates to make it feel “full” but totally fun with friends.

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

I figured on rush would bomb. When I first saw it I was hoping it would be more like Motorstorm. I miss that game. Best off road racer imo.

[trooper_]

Unfortunate.

[zodiac909]

Damn man the people of EVO Studios deserve so much better than, getting let go left and right!

[Thomaticus]

I wish this game had a basic racing mode Included. That's what kept me from buying it.

[2ndhandcorn]

The demo was terrible knew straight away this is now where near Blurs standard .

[chris235]

they made 1 fatal mistake: to make this game a forced multiplayer experience. sorry, this should have been clear to them. *shrugs*

[RoseSapphire]

The game looks stellar from everything I've seen - for $29.99, not for $59.99.

Despite how much I want it, the price was too high.

[Manubiggs]

It looks like a fun game and I have been waiting for a sale, it doesn't look like a $60 experience to me (This is based on what I've seen, I've never tried it.). Also where was the marketing for this; i only heard about it by accident weeks after it came out.