Raven (makers of Wolfenstein and X-Men Origins) hit by second wave of layoffs

20-30 people have been laid off from Ravensoft (makers of Wolfenstein and Xmen Origins Wolverine). The article cites lackluster sales and the delay in the release of Singularity. Wolfenstein by most accounts is mediocre, but Wolverine was a quality game and came out the same week as the movie (which did well in theaters). Its interesting that GRIN, another developer who was heavily involved with a licensed games, went under due to disappointing sales.

Perhaps being a movie based game is now more of a liability than a benefit due to the horrid reputation of the subgenre?

http://kotaku.com/5346302/raven-hit-by-layoffs-some-point-to-lackluster-wolfenstein-sales

I think you're right, the bad reputations of the majority has deeply hurt the few good movie games/devs that are out there. I wish this recession would come to an end soon but I doubt that will happen.

Wolverine was a great game. Not sure about Wolfenstein. The pattern I am seeing are these new small devs taking on established franchises or major licenses and trying to make this major game out of it, if it doesnt sell like crazy they fall apart. dvader654

That's unfortunate. I really enjoyed Wolverine and I'm planning on getting Wolfenstein sometime soon.

The established franchises is what surprises me. Like Grin doing Bionic Commando, Raven doing Wolfenstein, you got some American company doing Silent Hill 5, all have been disasters financially. If the publisher has no faith on their own franchise anymore maybe your dev team shouldnt try to revive it. dvader654

Wolverine was a great game. Not sure about Wolfenstein. The pattern I am seeing are these new small devs taking on established franchises or major licenses and trying to make this major game out of it, if it doesnt sell like crazy they fall apart. dvader654

New small devs? Dude, Raven was founded in 1990. Perhaps you guys never heard about Raven prior to Wolverine of whatever, but Raven is a long-standing developer with close ties to id. These guys made Heretic, Jedi Knight II, Soldier of Fortune, etc., etc.

It's always crappy when people lose their jobs, but as a gamer I am kind of indifferent at this point concerning Raven. In my opinion, they lost it about the same time id did and started churning out mediocre and irrelevant games. Everything they did since X-Men Origins has been meh at best.

[QUOTE="dvader654"]Wolverine was a great game. Not sure about Wolfenstein. The pattern I am seeing are these new small devs taking on established franchises or major licenses and trying to make this major game out of it, if it doesnt sell like crazy they fall apart. UpInFlames

New small devs? Dude, Raven was founded in 1990. Perhaps you guys never heard about Raven prior to Wolverine of whatever, but Raven is a long-standing developer with close ties to id. These guys made Heretic, Jedi Knight II, Soldier of Fortune, etc., etc.

It's always crappy when people lose their jobs, but as a gamer I am kind of indifferent at this point concerning Raven. In my opinion, they lost it about the same time id did and started churning out mediocre and irrelevant games. Everything they did since X-Men Origins has been meh at best.

[QUOTE="dvader654"]Wolverine was a great game. Not sure about Wolfenstein. The pattern I am seeing are these new small devs taking on established franchises or major licenses and trying to make this major game out of it, if it doesnt sell like crazy they fall apart. UpInFlames

New small devs? Dude, Raven was founded in 1990. Perhaps you guys never heard about Raven prior to Wolverine of whatever, but Raven is a long-standing developer with close ties to id. These guys made Heretic, Jedi Knight II, Soldier of Fortune, etc., etc.

It's always crappy when people lose their jobs, but as a gamer I am kind of indifferent at this point concerning Raven. In my opinion, they lost it about the same time id did and started churning out mediocre and irrelevant games. Everything they did since X-Men Origins has been meh at best.

The meh startred with SOF III actually.

The meh startred with SOF III actually.DOF_power

Raven didn't make Soldier of Fortune 3.

Gotta agree with Flames, Wolverine was a fantastic game but everything else they did is pretty mediocre at best.GodModeEnabled

It's always crappy when people lose their jobs, but as a gamer I am kind of indifferent at this point concerning Raven. In my opinion, they lost it about the same time id did and started churning out mediocre and irrelevant games. Everything they did since X-Men Origins has been meh at best.

UpInFlames

Wolverine is a great game and probably would have been even better had Activision not forced them to use the film IP more than halfway through development. I've also heard that the SP in Wolfenstein is actually quite good.

Heard this news a few days back, and it sucks. Everything Raven has done has been gold, from Hexen to Wolfenstein. Let's hope this "unnannounced title" has something to do with John Mullins.

I bet Ravensoft wouldn't have this issue if they would just release Singularity since it's already ****ing done!

Raven is a great studio, it's sad to know they're in trouble.Black_Knight_00

You mean raven was a great studio.

[QUOTE="Black_Knight_00"]Raven is a great studio, it's sad to know they're in trouble.DOF_power

You mean raven was a great studio.

[QUOTE="DOF_power"]

[QUOTE="Black_Knight_00"]Raven is a great studio, it's sad to know they're in trouble.Black_Knight_00

You mean raven was a great studio.

What great games have thye done recently ?!

Cause Wolfenstein, a consolized POS, isn't one of them.

[QUOTE="Black_Knight_00"][QUOTE="DOF_power"]

You mean raven was a great studio.

DOF_power

What great games have thye done recently ?!

Cause Wolfenstein, a consolized POS, isn't one of them.