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Yet it shouldn't be more than 20, like most PSVR games released so far.
@ToTTenTranz The reason I asked was because I saw people flip out over cancelling of 1 single game and was curious how that same group reacted when an entire game studio was closed. It wasn't to whine or bring up good vs evil or company A vs comoany B or peoples perceptions of any of that. Everyone is reading too much into it. The way I see it, closing a game studio is like cancelling all of their games and all of their possible future games. I was genuinely curious what the reaction was for this situation.
So please stop reading evil intent into plain and simple curiosity. Thank you.
So please stop reading evil intent into plain and simple curiosity. Thank you.
Making the analogy is essentially troll bait. There's no correlation between the two closures.
Wow, quite a stance of compulsive defiance when it was just asked not to read evil into it, isn't it ? If it is compulsive then one shouldn't even bother asking what's your rationale behind the "hand-waving"...
But which games? I mean, me not learning to code better is to deprive the world of all the wonderful programs I could have made....
Does Guerrilla Cambridge have any none released title announced? You do not have an emotional attachment to something you do not know about. Unless GC is like Rare or Naughty Dog and people religiously believe everything they touch is gospel.
Other than that, its a shame about the people losing their jobs.
Well, this one degenerated quickly.
this is a real shame, these guys are major tech power house, irc they contributed a lot to make what Killzone 2 what it was when GG were still trying to figure out how to make games. I hope they will at least keep the engineers, same with liverpool, they were technical wizards. I can see that financially how Sony are closing down all the UK studios since none of their games seems to generate much revenue after singstar fad is over. I hope Media Molecule stay open, isn't this like the only UK studio they have left.
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There is also London Studio and what was called Studio Manchester (which is still active). Sony held a large UK recruitment event last April and there is a fair amount of recruitment going on here. Studio closures trigger PR statements whereas the formulation of a studio generally does not. Plus there are facilities like SN Systems in Bristol and Dublin that produce tool chains for PlayStation developers.
Until a studio produces something or produces an announcement, you often don't know that they exist unless you're looking at the recruitment pages.
London Studio had job losses, which is the normal project end. Basically you don't have long term employment in the games industry unless you're a major contributor to a studio (founder or founder's mate). MM's definitely staying open for Dreams. I expect it'll have a healthy life beyond that as it creates 'special' games, and will be kept with a small core to incubate ideas between major projects (something like only 25 were kept after LBP until Dreams ramped up).
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Unfortunately it's not ;-) Not everybody wants to move to a new country, even where there isn't a language barrier or drastically different culture. I travelled quite a bit when I was younger and mostly single but now it's just not an option. When projects finish or studios close people will get 'laid off' but generally there will be a HR team to identify redeployment opportunities elsewhere in the organisation. If you have a skill which is needed elsewhere and are willing to move, it's a no brainer. It's also cheaper than having to recruit. Recruiting is massively time consuming and expensive.
As you can see from my link above, Sony are creating a first party studio in Manchester to work on PSVR games.
This is my first reaction. I had hopes for a successor of RIGS or a new Killzone.
Although I do not know the exact background here for me this is me a bigger fail than the cancellation of Scalebound. Why does Sony want to unnecessarily weak itself? The more studios, the more games. At the same time I would have expected that SONY would be more "generous" because of its very good position on the marked.
Especially since the UK is fairly cheap compared to other countries due to the large tax rebates. For this, the pound is weak and thus one can "save" even more money compared to other locations.
GG Cambridge hat about 80 employees.
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Wow, did you miss Economics 101? Sony is a business that exists in a world where manning studios is expensive and runs up costs that somebody has to pay. I don't know what industry you work in but I am a professional programmer and I've never worked anywhere where my employer was in a position by generous, and by generous I assume you mean pay people to do things that contribute nothing to the business.
What tax breaks? The UK is one of the most expensive places to live and operate a business in the world.
The UK offers a tax break of 25 percent for game developers. Compared to Germany the UK is a much cheaper place to develop videogames. Performance Capture etc. for games are thereby also cheaper. In Canada there are also many tax breaks. Up to 30% as far as I know.
That is why there are so many video game studios in these countries.
Since when had Evolution Studios and the GG Studio in Cambridge nothing contributed? Evolution Studios was much more efficient than Polyphony Digital. Polyphony Digital even needs a very long time for a "simple" racing game. Yamauchi said that the next game would be out much faster due the new hardware.
That is why there are so many video game studios in these countries.
Since when had Evolution Studios and the GG Studio in Cambridge nothing contributed? Evolution Studios was much more efficient than Polyphony Digital. Polyphony Digital even needs a very long time for a "simple" racing game. Yamauchi said that the next game would be out much faster due the new hardware.
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Deleted member 11852
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You clearly didn't look too closely at the small print, the 25% break is limited to production costs with, and I quote, "tax relief only available for companies producing games that are certified as culturally British".
So yeah, I look forward to Tea Drinking Simulator 2017.
You are looking backwards at what those studios produced whereas I suspect Sony were looking forward at what they wanted to do. Sometimes key people leave an organisation and it crumbles or loses traction, sometimes you just want to consolidate costs across multiple sites/studios so have to close a site/studio. Sometimes you need close a studio with particular experience in order to setup another which requires people with very different experience/skills. Sometimes if you're desperate for particular talent who can't move, you have to move to them. Sometimes you want a studio to do more of what it has been doing and the people don't (Bungie/Halo). Most of the reasons for opening, closing, moving or changing the structure of studios is just mundane.
SIE Worldwide Studios operate within a budget. I bet Sony had to put additional manpower and resources into Sony Bend for Days Gone compared to their earlier games, something had to give elsewhere. And I wasn't at all surprised at Evolution Studios closing because two first party racing studios seems excessive given this is a genre that has steadily declined. Racing games used to be a staple genre like FPS and 3rd Person Action Game genres are now. That time has gone.
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In Germany the competitive disadvantage is sometimes criticized. That's why I know that.
Because of time problems I just quote something and run it trough the Google translator:
"In countries such as Canada and the USA or France and Great Britain, extensive funding programs have long been common. For example, the European Commission has recently approved plans to promote the domestic gaming sector through tax relief. With up to 1.2 million euro, developers will be supported in the future - per game.
"In order not to lose the connection, comparable programs within Germany are almost mandatory," commented Martin Lorber of Branchenriesen Electronic Arts (EA). "Digital games are the medium of the future and will shape cultural events in the coming years." A strengthening of the domestic creative industry is therefore a must."
https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/webwelt/article144872973/Warum-Deutschland-nur-hinterherdaddelt.html
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Financial Report:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/...MwOWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
The costs were around £15 mio. while the tax credit deduction was ~£3 mio.
They got 20% back by the government due tax credit.
The running costs were £15/$19.5 mio. minus tax credit of ~£3m for the staff and expenses in that year.
http://wccftech.com/brexit-will-raise-uk-tech-prices/
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So you're asserting the UK is "cheap" because of some commitment the EU (which the UK is leaving) propose to do in the future? Huh? And yes, the UK has lots of tax initiatives aimed to cultivating new business but very few will actually benefit gaming because, as I posted before, they are very limited in scope.
Sounds about avergae and, according to their public filing, they didn't qualify for the tax break you claimed was awesome so.. what's the relevance?
Yeah, that further undermines your assertion that the UK is a cheap place to operate.
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