Sony shutting down Studio Liverpool

gizmo

Looks like we have another studio closure on the cards. News is leaking out that Sony have just closed their Studio Liverpool offices with all current projects cancelled.

Some of the older folk around here may know these guys as Psygnosis, one of the oldest games companies still around these days, who were responsible for both developing and publishing a slew of excellent titles over the years beginning all the way back in the Spectrum era. Since the Sony studio rebranding they've mainly been churning out the F1 and Wipeout games.

Story

Retr0gamer

Sad news, they've been around for years as Psygnosis on the 8 and 16 bit machines.

Nerdkiller1991

Wow. I know it's probably cliche to say this, but this is probably, without hyperbole, the worst generation in gaming, all around. So many studios shuttered this gen, and now one of my favourite devs who make one of my favourite franchises is gone.

Otacon

I think my avatar explains why I feel so disappointed by this. I was a fan of most of their work.

Mr E

They've left a massive legacy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCE_Studio_Liverpool#Games_developed_or_published_as_Psygnosis

I have a feeling it will be a positive thing in the long run. A team as talented as that can only excel when they are free from churning out racing game sequels. Good luck to them.

Now... Blood Money for XBLA, plz.

Josey Wales

That is a real shame to hear. I am a big fan of many of their games going back to the MegaDrive. I used to love Wiz n' Liz on the MegaDrive, then Destruction Derby on the PS1. My favourite series of games from them is easily WipeOut. I think that WipeOut HD and the Fury expansion is the best racing game of this generation.

Sad to see them go.

gizmo

Gunmonkey

*Sony buys company who made Team Buddies*

*Doesnt re-release original or make new Team Buddies, closes them after forcing em to churn out Wipeout*

The word "DERP" springs to mind.

:EDIT: Dammit, gizmo reminded me. Where the F*** is next gen G-Police and Colony Wars??

hooradiation

Nerdkiller1991 wrote: »

Wow. I know it's probably cliche to say this, but this is probably, without hyperbole, the worst generation in gaming, all around.

I agree, I mean this is nothing compared to the time the entire gaming industry almost totally imploded and took nearly a decade to recover.

That was nowhere near as bad as today. Nope, not even close.

Nerdkiller1991

hooradiation wrote: »

I agree, I mean this is nothing compared to the time the entire gaming industry almost totally imploded and took nearly a decade to recover.

That was nowhere near as bad as today. Nope, not even close.

That crash only affected the US. Elsewhere, in Europe and Japan, gaming was actually starting to take off. But in all honesty, this is still a bad generation for gaming, regardless.

richymcdermott

This is terrible , was bad enough team ico broke up and now one of my fav sony studios is gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKXYKmM2ALw

worse i happen to read this thread while listen to this

Nerdkiller1991

richymcdermott wrote: »

This is terrible , was bad enough team ico broke up and now one of my fav sony studios is gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKXYKmM2ALw

worse i happen to read this thread while listen to this

Team Ico is still around, though I doubt they will be after The Last Guardian releases, so at least you only have one reason to be sad.

richymcdermott

Nerdkiller1991 wrote: »

Team Ico is still around, though I doubt they will be after The Last Guardian releases, so at least you only have one reason to be sad.

But two or 3 of the main guys have left , still sad

I feel The last guardian going to be cancelled

hooradiation

Nerdkiller1991 wrote: »

That crash only affected the US. Elsewhere, in Europe and Japan, gaming was actually starting to take off. But in all honesty, this is still a bad generation for gaming, regardless.

No I'm clearly agreeing with you, this is the worstest time in games bar none!

You are in no way overblowing this in the slightest!

Retr0gamer

I remember when my PS2 laser went. Now that really was the worst time in gaming ever.

gizmo

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I remember when my PS2 laser went. Now that really was the worst time in gaming ever.

I see you your broken laser and I raise you my "oh ****, wrapping the cable around the power supply of my SNES isn't keeping it alive anymore".

JohnMarston

Psygnosis made the ps1 game Overboard! which i fondly remember. Sad to see them go

Nerdkiller1991

hooradiation wrote: »

No I'm clearly agreeing with you, this is the worstest time in games bar none!

You are in no way overblowing this in the slightest!

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I remember when my PS2 laser went. Now that really was the worst time in gaming ever.

Meh. Twas nothing compared to my YLOD on my old PS3. I felt like I, and gaming in general was going to die.

K.O.Kiki

Why didn't they push out a sequel to the Colony Wars franchise?

Only series I kick myself for never buying.

Nerdkiller1991

Never forget.

Josey Wales

Re: the post above

Yes, WipeOut Fusion was an excellent game. It was one of the last games I bought for the PS2 and I put hours and hours into it. Some of the track designs in the game were amazing. In my opinion it was the best WipeOut game until HD came along.

K.O.Kiki

What does this mean for WipeOut HD add-ons & online play?

gizmo

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

What does this mean for WipeOut HD add-ons & online play?

Nothing. They're closing SCE Liverpool but that doesn't meant the end of the franchise nor will it have any affect on their online services.

Zillah

They made Colony Wars!

I haven't played that since I was a young teenager so I'm sure it's probably not aged well, but I have fond memories of it.

hooradiation wrote: »

No I'm clearly agreeing with you, this is the worstest time in games bar none!

You are in no way overblowing this in the slightest!

Every single post I have seen from you is a load of angsty sarcasm. You don't have to constantly show everyone how cool you are.

RobbingBandit

These guys made the best football game ever, Adidas Power Soccer for PS1, I loved that game so much.

CptMackey

Zillah wrote: »

They made Colony Wars!

I haven't played that since I was a young teenager so I'm sure it's probably not aged well, but I have fond memories of it.

hooradiation wrote: »

No I'm clearly agreeing with you, this is the worstest time in games bar none!

You are in no way overblowing this in the slightest!

Every single post I have seen from you is a load of angsty sarcasm. You don't have to constantly show everyone how cool you are.

Colony wars. Loved that game. What ever you do tho don't turn it on and look at it.
It has not aged well. Would have loved a remake of the first one. Loads of different endings aswell.

Didn't they also make Rollcage? What a game

hooradiation

Zillah wrote: »

Every single post I have seen from you is a load of angsty sarcasm.

Stop using words you don't understand.
You look foolish.

dloob

I guess this isn't good news for Shadow of Beast 4 then

Captain Chaos

Colony Wars and G-Police, PS1 classics right there. Colony Wars deserved a reboot for this gen.:(

Fnz

This makes me an angry man.



I liked their style; more-so back in the Psygnosis days. The WipEout games introduced me to some awesome music and the work of The Designers Republic. 2097 had one of the best intros of the generation.

Kinda depressing to see the list of games they developed as SCE Studio Livepool: [Link]

Formula One 2001
Wipeout Fusion (2002)
Formula One 2002
Formula One 2003
F1 04
Wipeout Pure (2005)
F1 05
F1 06
Wipeout Pulse (2007)
Formula One Championship Edition (2007)
Wipeout HD (2008)
Wipeout HD Fury (2009)
Wipeout 2048 (2012)

helimachoptor

Wipeout was great.

On an aside you can get gpolice for your pc, still holds up well tbh

JohnMarston

I got Wipeout Fusion when Sony were giving out three free games out of a list to compensate for PSN being shut down.
Great game, but it completely kicked my ass, and it was only on normal difficulty

Zillah

helimachoptor wrote: »

Wipeout was great.

On an aside you can get gpolice for your pc, still holds up well tbh

Wait wait, they made gpolice too? That's two of my favourite childhood scifi games they made.

Josey Wales

Looks like Studio Liverpool isn't done yet.

They posted on their Twitter account that, 'We. Are. Alive.'

Link

Magill

Zillah wrote: »

Every single post I have seen from you is a load of angsty sarcasm. You don't have to constantly show everyone how cool you are.

In fairness to him... that post required a reply loaded with sarcasm. /Facepalm worthy when you read stuff like that.


On topic.. not really a big loss if they do get shut down. One decent racing game in a whole gaming generation isn't exactly amazing. Not unique to gaming that a studio gets shut down for failing.

Helix

hooradiation wrote: »

No I'm clearly agreeing with you, this is the worstest time in games bar none!

You are in no way overblowing this in the slightest!

yeah he's dead right

if only we could go back to the glory days, where 8 out of every 10 games were godawful platformers, with half of them being shoddy licenses

woe is us

Skerries

Eurogamer was told by an unnamed source, that at the time of its closure, Studio Liverpool was working on two PlayStation 4 launch titles. One was a Wipeout title described as "dramatically different", the other was a motion capture based game along the lines of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Because of the closure, it is unknown if the two games will go to other studios

Helix

wipeout is still in development

richymcdermott

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2013/01/07/ex-wipeout-dev-says-future-instalments-unlikely

No more wipeout

super_furry

I don't think I'd want to play another Wipeout without major gameplay changes. The Playstation versions were seminal, era defining games but they've been remaking those games with minimal changes for coming up on two decades now.

Sarky

Psygnosis... gone?

I remember I wrote them a letter as a child, asking them if they'd make a GI Joe game (I was rather taken by the comics at the time). They wrote back to me. It was a no, unsurprisingly, but they wrote back to me. I still have that beautiful headed letter about somewhere.

I've loved them since Shadow Of The Beast on my Amiga. This news makes me sad

Star Lord

Shadow of the Beast, Lemmings, Menace, Rollcage...
Loved each of those. Not so much the F1/Wipeout games they ended up making.

Sabre Man

My first Amiga games were Defender of the Crown and Barbarian by Psygnosis. It's sad it had to end like this.

aN.Droid

Ahh shadow of the beast... such a beautiful game for it's time... This is indeed a sad day...

Potential-Monke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqduhShyh0Y

Fnz

richymcdermott wrote: »

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2013/01/07/ex-wipeout-dev-says-future-instalments-unlikely

No more wipeout

I can't see Sony abandon the WipEout brand. It must have enough mind-share to secure future instalments.

I think anti-grav racing still has an audience - despite Nintendo allowing the F-Zero franchise gather dust.

Otacon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21177604

A group of video games developers from Sony's defunct Liverpool operation have created a studio in the city.

Sawfly Studios told the BBC it planned to release its first game - targeted at smartphones and tablets - within the next couple of months.

About 100 people lost their jobs when Sony closed what was one of the UK's oldest games developers last August.

The unit was responsible for the Wipeout racing series, but dated back to 1984, when it was called Psygnosis.

Four of its former employees are involved in the new business - two designers, a programmer and an artist - but they said they might take on other ex-Sony Liverpool Studio workers once they had launched their initial title.

Some good news...