Sony Closes Studio Liverpool (fomerly Psygnosis) (WipEout)

[Friendly]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/36 ... ol-studio/
http://www.officialplaystationmagazine. ... liverpool/

WTF. This hurts very much.

[Raytrace]

that is terribs

Wipeout HD and Fury were absolutely brilliant

[Friendly]

One can only hope that Sony relocates the key personnel to Evolution Studios (also in the UK).

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Psygnosis made some really awesome games. Wonder if they weren't 'mainstream' enough to make the profits Sony wanted or something.

[trap15]

04:54 <@_Bnu> They're actually just closing Psygnosis because Psygnosis hasn't made a single game since the Lemmings remake, and every time someone from Sony dropped by to ask them if they were doing something, they were all "Hey, fuck off guy! Come have a seat, smoke some pot!"

[Skykid]

2007:

Oh well, SCEI is run by idiots, what can you expect...
Sony has got to be walking on crutches by now, with all that shooting in the foot

2011:

I don't think what they have could even be considered feet anymore. More like a ruined mess of bone, blood and bullet holes.

2013:

It is only the development team that will be affected by the measure.

C'est la vie Studio Liverpool, thanks for the races.

[Friendly]

04:54 <@_Bnu> They're actually just closing Psygnosis because Psygnosis hasn't made a single game since the Lemmings remake, and every time someone from Sony dropped by to ask them if they were doing something, they were all "Hey, fuck off guy! Come have a seat, smoke some pot!"

What is this I don't even

The last game by Studio Liverpool was Wipeout for PSV. The PSP and PS3 remakes of Lemmings were created by Team17. Unless this is referring to something else?

[Jonathan Ingram]

Surprised this didn`t happen earlier. Sony has tons of studios producing games nobody buys. Studio Liverpool is one of them.

[Friendly]

Surprised this didn`t happen earlier. Sony has tons of studios producing games nobody buys. Studio Liverpool is one of them.

Yep, everyone who owns a PS3 and or Vita and didn't buy Wipeout is to blame.

[neorichieb1971]

Thats what you get for selling out.

You sometimes wonder what creative control you have left when you sell out. Ueda was quick to go as well.

[Friendly]

Thats what you get for selling out.

What are you talking about?

[Jonathan Ingram]

Yep, everyone who owns a PS3 and or Vita and didn't buy Wipeout is to blame.

I didn`t. I have F-Zero GX to play, so why would I? If Studio Liverpool had produced a new Discworld or a Colony Wars game, I would`ve bought it in a heartbeat. Never particularly cared for Wipeout.

[Friendly]

"Sony Liverpool was working on WipEout PS4 and a Splinter Cell style game for PS4." "A source described the WipEout game as "far along". It had been in development for between 12 and 18 months."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... me-for-ps4

It makes no sense.

Why doesn't Sony fire its entirely inept marketing department instead?

[Drum]

Yep, everyone who owns a PS3 and or Vita and didn't buy Wipeout is to blame.

I didn`t. I have F-Zero GX to play, so why would I? If Studio Liverpool had produced a new Discworld or a Colony Wars game, I would`ve bought it in a heartbeat. Never particularly cared for Wipeout.

Wipeout and F-Zero are real different games. Wipeout is more of a Mario Kart-alike. Was more of a Mario Kart-alike, I should say.

Fucking stupid that the devs have to be the sacrificial lamb to pay for the stupidity of management/marketing. These guys should never have even been making these games - Sony has failed to sell Wipeout for a very long time, despite the games being well put-together.
Also weird as hell that they're cutting off all these limbs while continuing to greenlight games that are clearly vanity projects (Puppeteer, Tearaway, Rain etc.). I don't know if that's a complaint or not - mixed feelings I guess. Plus none of the games by the freshly-killed devs can have been expected to sell in respectable quantities - Vita is a platform where games go to die. Again, not the fault of the devs.

[Vexorg]

I haven't played much of their stuff since they became a Sony studio, but I'd have to say that Rollcage was one of the best PC games of its era (this in spite of being a console port.) Never could quite get into the Wipeout games though.

[mesh control]

I'm fine with this.

Wipeout 3 has already been made.

[Friendly]

Fucking stupid that the devs have to be the sacrificial lamb to pay for the stupidity of management/marketing.

Yeah, punishing those who create the content that makes your hardware desirable in the first place is a terrible idea. The modern gaming industry sucks very much.
It sounds like Sony will be keeping the best, though:

A Sony spokesperson also said the company will try to relocate those affected to other studios. "We will be looking to relocate the team members throughout the studios, but unfortunately some redundancies will be necessary and in those cases we will assist staff in any way we can."

Of course by scattering the former members of Studio Liverpool, Sony is effectively killing Wipeout.

[neorichieb1971]

Wipeout has run its course.

I wouldn't buy another iteration of it.

[Vexorg]

Fucking stupid that the devs have to be the sacrificial lamb to pay for the stupidity of management/marketing.

Yeah, punishing those who create the content that makes your hardware desirable in the first place is a terrible idea. The modern gaming industry sucks very much.
It sounds like Sony will be keeping the best, though:

A Sony spokesperson also said the company will try to relocate those affected to other studios. "We will be looking to relocate the team members throughout the studios, but unfortunately some redundancies will be necessary and in those cases we will assist staff in any way we can."

Of course by scattering the former members of Studio Liverpool, Sony is effectively killing Wipeout.

Probably won't stop them from releasing 2 or 3 more shovelware iterations before they realize this though.

[Friendly]

In related news, Sony let go 1,500 UK employees of Sony Mobile Communications today, who had previously worked for Sony-Ericson. Since Sony aquired Ericson's shares earlier this year and Sony-Ericson became Sony Mobile Communications, their R&D department has been moved to Tokyo.

[Ed Oscuro]

Wipeout has run its course.

I wouldn't buy another iteration of it.

well, if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't read another iteration of this post.

Psygnosis...interesting dev company, for me they'll be known as the maker of quirky titles back in the late '80s and early '90s. I still have to play Obitus (but ugh those sidescrolling missions are terrible).

[Ganelon]

Psygnosis was a huge presence back in the early PS1 days but there are very few games they developed that I really enjoy, perhaps only the Ecstatica and WipEout series. Even for WipEout, I haven't really been wowed by recent titles. Although I was clearly buying continual WipEout rehashes mostly because of fondness for the original PS1 trilogy, I nevertheless sympathize with former Studio Liverpool employees.

[neorichieb1971]

Wipeout has run its course.

I wouldn't buy another iteration of it.

well, if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't read another iteration of this post.

Psygnosis...interesting dev company, for me they'll be known as the maker of quirky titles back in the late '80s and early '90s. I still have to play Obitus (but ugh those sidescrolling missions are terrible).

Psygnosis were style over substance even up until Shadow of the Beast. The games were beautiful but gameplay was monochrome and disenchanting. When Sony bought them (Selling out Mr Friendly) they went to new heights. Destruction Derby and Wipeout franchises more successful than the others. But even 15 years later they haven't really hit that height again. Their output has been regurgitated progress rather than creative progress.

I felt over the years their technical expertise was much more exceptional than their gameplay. Wipeout had external musical talent and some company who does great graphic design work to help its case but I did like the earlier versions of wipeout. Although looking great, and although technically brilliant, as a gamer I found the formula getting older with each release. They must have made alot of wipeout games. The Uncharted team have moved away from uncharted. That would have been a good move for Studio Liverpool after the PS3 version of wipeout.

This is just my own personal feelings.

Sony didn't help matters with the Credit card scam. Wipeout HD and Fury were listed giveaways to keep the moaners at bay. That was probably a lot of lost sales right there. Since Wipeout was mostly a download game, I would imagine keeping tabs on sales/downloads was easily scrutinized. Therefore I believe Sony had all the data they needed to come to this conclusion. As for the other games, I've never heard of them.

[Friendly]

Wipeout has run its course.

I wouldn't buy another iteration of it.

well, if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't read another iteration of this post.

Yeah, that one made zero sense. Sensing a pattern here. Those of us who have actually played the games consider Wipeout HD / Fury to be among the best of the series (along with the classic WipEout 2097).

[linko9]

This is such a bummer. Word is, Wipeout 4 development was going well... now we'll never see it. And it's not like Sony's unwilling to pump money into a project (see Last Guardian), so I don't see why they'd can a studio that's actually putting out quality products in a timely manner.

[Friendly]

I don't think it's all that unlikely for Wipeout 4 to be released. It's just really doubtful that whoever finishes the incomplete game manages to match the quality of Studio Liverpool.

-



WipEout Retrospective - 1995-2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fv ... mbOZU&NR=1

[Marc]

It's something of a bummer because, as already stated, I think there will be another few shovelware WipeOut games before it's allowed to die. Psygnosis were mostly style over substance though. Shadow Of The Beast? Agony? Blood Money? Ugh.

[Strider77]

All this moaing about how Wip3out is over the hill made me go buy the retail release of Wip3out HD Fury.... even though I have had it as a digital download forever.

Wip3out is the only game I have on my Vita.... love it.

[Friendly]

It's something of a bummer because, as already stated, I think there will be another few shovelware WipeOut games before it's allowed to die. Psygnosis were mostly style over substance though. Shadow Of The Beast? Agony? Blood Money? Ugh.

Yeah, those Amiga games from over 25 years ago were more like tech demos; Psygnosis' output since 1993 has been pretty solid, though.

[Friendly]

All this moaing about how Wip3out is over the hill made me go buy the retail release of Wip3out HD Fury.... even though I have had it as a digital download forever.

Wip3out is the only game I have on my Vita.... love it.

Good going. The moaner(s) in this topic are clueless.