BBC dot.Rory: A Labour politician has already pointed a finger at the tax relief issue as a culprit, while a Dundee academic blamed the general climate for the industry. But the reason Realtime Worlds is looking over the precipice may be simpler - the game on which it staked its future just hasn't worked.
GamesIndustry: "Studio growth is risky - Bizarre Creations, Avalanche, Realtime Worlds and more help uncover the success and pitfalls of rapid expansion."
Just like the music industry, success can a hard thing to come by in video games. Some developers who stumble upon a blockbuster manage to turn one success into another and pump out hit after hit. Others simply spend years slogging it out with low-budget or licensed titles for no reward. One-hit wonders, however, crack the big-time just once, nailing a product everyone remembers but failing to ever reach those giddy heights again.
Omg I am shocked they put Berzerk from the Atari 2600 on there. I love that game, it was so much fun.
As a kid, that game scared the crap outta me. I only played it when I wanted to NOT play Centipede or Joust(and I ALWAYS wanted to play them). And when I did, I could only play a few levels before I was freaked out.
It was a secondhand copy without the manual, and I have no idea how I figured out how to play, but somehow I did, and somehow I enjoyed it while I was terrified.
More recently Spiderman Shattered Dimensions was awesome too. The Activision saw the money and told those guys that they would be making Spiderman games from now on. A year later they released Edge of Time which bombed in sales and in reviews. Now because of Activision's broken system, the same developer has 8 months to put out the next Spiderman game which also looks like complete ass.
The same thing happened with the guys who made Transformers War for Cybertron, a year to make the next game (which was ass) and now because of that they have only a year to make Fall of Cybertron which more then likely will be ass but we will have to wait and see about that one. Activision will close these 2 studios in the next 12 months.
Scotland-based developers Realtime Worlds created the critically acclaimed Xbox 360 title, Crackdown. They seemed to have a bright future ahead. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case...
end of story...
tho i know everyones trying to get in on the corperate wellfare pot...