Factor 5 has apparently closed down

[Megadrive1988]

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56493

Factor 5 'Officially Closed,' Claims Report
by Chris Faylor Dec 22, 2008 11:54am


Following word of financial difficulties and layoffs at Lair and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series developer Factor 5, a new report now claims that the long-running development studio has "officially closed."

"We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today," reads an e-mail that was sent to, and reposted by, IGN editor Matt Casamassina. "That's some pretty big news considering that those guys have been around for quite a while."

Factor 5, founded in 1987, has yet to issue an official statement on the matter. The developer was known to be working on a number of multi-platform projects and dedicated Wii games, one of which was strongly rumored to be a Superman title.

"Things are obviously in flux and we hope that the game proves to be as indestructible as our hero," Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht commented after publishing partner Brash Entertainment unexpectedly shut down earlier in the year.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21625

Industry News

December 22, 2008


Report: Factor 5 Officially Closed? New reports suggest that the entire staff at developer Factor 5 has been laid off, after 35 employees were made redundant last week.

Last week Gamasutra was able to confirm that nearly half of the San Rafael, California-based studio's workforce had been let go. The remaining 38 were forced to take pay cuts in order to allow them to remain at the company.

According to a report by IGN’s Matt Casamassina, the entire studio may have been forced to close (subscription required). Reproducing part of an e-mail from an “inside source” at the company, the report suggests that the company has already closed.

"We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today," states the e-mail. "That’s some pretty big news considering that those guys have been around for quite a while. It’s definitely a real shame!"

After the critical and commercial failure of Lair, and the reported loss of a three-game contract with Sony, Factor 5’s business was also hit by the troubles surrounding publisher Brash Entertainment.

It is currently unclear what projects the Bay Area developer, best known for the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series, was or is working on.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/po...eloper_Factor_5_Shutting_Down_Completely.html
http://www.developmag.com/news/31006/Factor-5-closed

What a shame if true. These guys proved that the
Dolphin/GameCube was capable of more than most people thought. Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike were showcases for the graphical power of that console, and I was very much looking forward to their Wii project.

I guess the factors (no pun intended) in Factor 5's demise are due to the poor sales of Lair and perhaps the bad economy.

 

[Npl]

Definitly the economy... bad bad times.
I will mourn their demise with a playthrough of Turrican 2.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I'm going to play a little bit of Lair. I actually enjoyed that game quite a bit. (enough for 14 gold medals) I think it still holds up very well. At least from a technical point of view.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It's not just the economy... You can't expect to get a lot of contracts after releasing something like Lair, especially if you have one of the largest egos in game development. Does anyone remember their GDC presentations? Priding themselves on multiple $20+ million projects, showing the world how nextgen is supposed to be done - and then failing so spectacularly both commercialy and criticaly as the articles mention.

They may have had a second chance, to climb back to AA releases, but they can only blame themselves for getting into such a vulnerable position. The recession was just the final blow.
In my opinion they were overconfident and careless, they couldn't even react to the bad reviews in a normal, down-to-earth way.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Indeed, Eggbricht brought this on himself IMO. Bragging and underdelivering isn't going to land you a lot of contracts... Maybe now we'll see a simple, high-quality download Turrican from an offshoot?

 

[swaaye]

Frankly, I haven't liked really any of their games. They were beautiful sure, but the gameplay was rather not so amazing in like everything they've ever made. I've never personally seen Lair, but the reviews were not exactly promising.

They were really a technology company that should've gone down the path of licensing an engine and toolkit instead of making games.

 

[Nano]

Of all business closures that have happened lately gaming or otherwise, this saddens me the most if true. I will miss the ground-breaking technology they pushed which others usually didn't and I rue the missed opportunity for a rather special Wii title that may have been in the works.

Their titles were big budget and far between, also as swaaye mentioned, there was an awful lot of potential for engine licensing (I would very much have liked to have see this for GC and Wii, then extending to other platforms). I guess the business model really didn't work.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I liked most of F5's Rogue Squadron series...what Star Fox should have turned into IMO. But you can't go blowing kajillions of dollars on projects if you're not consistently turning out blockbusters, which they never were.

 

[2008 IQ is unacceptable]

I'm sad to see a company fold, but the only game they ever made (actually ported) that I like was the N64 version Indy Infernal; however, even the pc version (as long as it's patched, of course) is infinitely preferable to the N64 one.

I didn't like the 1st rogue squadron, the 2nd one was too damn hard, and the 3rd one I never played b/c the 1st two were so damn boring to me.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Definitly the economy... bad bad times.
I will mourn their demise with a playthrough of Turrican 2.

I dont think the eonomy alone is at fault, Lair costed significant $$$$ and didn't excactly do very well. You gotta make titles that sell well if your going to stay alive as an indepentent developer, fincial crysis or not.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Well, they were popular enough, meaning some of us actually liked them. The 2nd one was not nearly as hard as the first, either. Battle for Naboo is an underrated gem as well.

 

[swaaye]

I'm sad to see a company fold, but the only game they ever made (actually ported) that I like was the N64 version Indy Infernal; however, even the pc version (as long as it's patched, of course) is infinitely preferable to the N64 one.

I didn't like the 1st rogue squadron, the 2nd one was too damn hard, and the 3rd one I never played b/c the 1st two were so damn boring to me.

Whoa, I think you and I are on the same page

I actually have that Indy game at home for N64. It's a fairly impressive tech presentation for the N64, running in 640x480 and smoothly at that. The game is really just a Tomb Raider clone though and I completely understand why fans of Fate of Atlantis were really put off by it.

 

[22psi]

Did they do LAIR?

 

[Skrying]

Did they do LAIR?

The answer is literally in the first sentence of the quoted text in the original post. Sometimes I just want to...

 

[Teasy]

Should never have left Nintendo exclusivity.

 

[obonicus]

Should never have left Nintendo exclusivity.

Was that up to them? I heard Nintendo scrapped a GCN Pilotwings pretty late into last-gen.

 

[Teasy]

Was that up to them? I heard Nintendo scrapped a GCN Pilotwings pretty late into last-gen.

I don't know who made the decision but it was a bad one IMO, both for Factor 5 and Nintendo. Of course much more so for Factor 5 given recent events.

 

[assen]

Should never have left Nintendo exclusivity.

More like, should have never attempted Sony exclusivity.

 

[obonicus]

More like, should have never attempted Sony exclusivity.

Didn't Sony pay for Lair? 'They should never have released a terribly-received game' is probably more accurate, since apparently Sony canceled their multi-game contract after Lair. A 53 on metacritic must have meant other publishers weren't too keen to work with them, too.

 

[DJ12]

These guys proved that the
Dolphin/GameCube was capable of more than most people thought. Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike were showcases for the graphical power of that console

Shame they couldn't make a game that was actually fun to play as well as good to look at though.

You cannot make a very good living off a game that only looks good. It would be better to have a game that looks like crap that is a joy to play than Factor5 route to demise.