Sony Shuts Down #DRIVECLUB Developer

Evolution Studios, the developers behind Motorstorm and Driveclub, have been shut down, Sony confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz.

Sony told the publication the decision came after a regular review of every developer within Sony to ensure “a competitive landscape can create and produce high quality, innovative and commercially viable projects.”

“It is regrettable that this decision will lead to compulsory redundancies,” the company said as part of a statement. “We accept that this decision will mean that we risk losing high calibre staff but by focusing on other Studios that already have exciting new projects in development we believe we will be in a stronger position going forward and able to offer the best possible content of the highest quality for our consumers.”

It’s unclear what this means for the future of Driveclub, the studio’s last game. Only hours ago, game director Paul Rustchynsky was retweeting screens fans had taken in-game.Driveclub has still regularly updated with new content, and Evolution was working on a VR version.

We’ve asked Sony for details on the future of Driveclub, as the company’s current statement doesn’t include details on possible future development.

A little over a year ago, roughly half the studio was laid off, following the game’s shaky launch.

SOURCE

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Thoughts?

This comes right on the heels of Microsoft shutting down Lionhead. Will Microsoft come to Evolution Studios' aid like Sony had done by offering jobs?

Oh goddamn it, I had a great inflammatory title for this thread.

Hope MS has a job fair for them. This is horrible. Not surprised though. DriveCllub was yet another big flop.

@Blabadon:

You tell me it and I'll edit the topic title and credit you. :P

Lol Lionhead getting jobs from Sony yet they gonna fire some of these folks.

Wow... That's not even cool, I was really looking forward to another Motorstorm...

Driveclub was nothing spectacular but these are some very talented people.

It's unfortunate but it doesn't look like they were making any new games so it was bound to happen. They were already reduced and were only working on Driveclub updates.

Chances are that many of them will be moved to North West Studio to work on VR with the other Evolution employees.

Sony, the closer of first party studios thread incoming. Oh wait, no smear campaign ongoing for them. Never mind. :P

Yeah it was an obvious PR stunt, which in light of this has completely egged them in the face...

What's Ready at Dawn working on or did Sony also shut them down

Based on their comment, most of them are being let go and not moved. They were not working on just updates, they actually released a motorcycle DLC campaign for it too. But in the end, they really never produced any thing good.

@Zassimick: Eh, something along the lines of "Motorstorm and DriveClub developer's new game announced, going to kick Xbox's ass!" or something like that, just to get fanboy egos up until they enter the thread.

@Blabadon: Ah, I totally thought it was going to be something like, "Sony shuts down #DRIVECLUB developer after Lionhead job fair" :P

#SDC

Motorstorm and Motorstorm Pacific Rift were great games... Of course they produced good games, Driveclub was just something they could not recover from especially in the face of Gran Turismo Sport releasing, Sony didn't need two racing developers.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's as if a thousand cows screamed out in horror.

On topic, this sucks, because good people losing their jobs is never a good thing and because Sony's first party feels like it's dwindling a bit. DriveClub's support was superb, even if I thought the game was bunk.

I remember these guys had the first PS3 game I ever played, Motorstorm in Times Square. Blew my fucking mind back then. Good luck to everyone involved.

They aren't owned by Sony. I think they're working on a game for the Rift.

I wait for the following comments here:

• Is Sony cool or what, bros?
• Now stop closing studios I like, Sony.

• or gamers by gamers! thank you Sony and PlayStation...meanwhile Microsoft too busy deciding on which studio to close up next lmao

• Good to see Sony step up and offer these guys a job after M$ threw them out on the streets
• Yeah because publicly telling laid off employees "" Hey we are recruiting come to our even"" is a low blow..
• and more here! http://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/lionhead-studios-dont-fear-sony-is-here-33012593/?messageId=353700497&page=1

LOL

Does Sony own The Order IP?

Yes but I doubt we'll ever see it again.

If Evolution created a robust Motorstorm for PS4 launch, I think they still have jobs. Drive club doomed them. I hope these guys can partner up with that ex group of Burnout devs and put brain power to an awesome arcade racer.

TLHBO

The original Motorstorm was decent. But there is nothing wrong with having more than one studio for games that have vehicles in them. People have spoken, and we all wanted a new Motorstorm for the PS4.

That what you get for making bad games, Lionhead knows all about this.

Sad news, good luck to those affected I hope they find new jobs soon :)

Driveclub never made sense when Sony already has Gran Turismo for real world car racing. I think Evolution should have stuck to Motorstorm. Sucks when any studio gets shut down but I'm not as bothered by this as I was when they shut down Zipper and Liverpool. I still miss Socom and Wipeout but I wouldn't care if another Motorstorm or Driveclub ever gets made.

The reasoning for it seems even worse then Lionhead Studio. It sounds to me like "You guys kinda suck we have or can get better devs, your just filling out space."

@dynamitecop: "Motorstorm Pacific Rift were great games... "

Pretty game even with 4 player split screen.

"Of course they produced good games, Driveclub was just something they could not recover from"

It was a finical flop? They should of went with Motorstorm 4.

I thought MS was the only one that closed studios?

Sony offering Lionhead employees jobs was nothing more than them trolling MS they can't even keep their own studios open

Will MS strike back on twitter?

Just waiting for @tormentos to call this out like he did in the Lionhead thread. Gotta love post history. No doubt he will come here to defend Sony and explain why them not having a job fair for these guys is "ok".

They said they're relocating people where possible. it wasn't feasible to have an entire studio work on just Driveclub DLC and updates. Sony will have a new, smaller team that will continue to support Driveclub.

"Where possible we will try to reallocate people onto other projects," says Sony's statement. "If appropriate opportunities are not possible within the company, we will assist staff in any way we can, including speaking with local employers and with other development companies."

How terribly sad come on sony...

Agreed. It is too bad that $ony enjoys fucking over there employees like this. Oh well. I do wish SOCOM would come back.

Damn, dat some good spin and PR. Bummer another studio is closed and jobs lost.

@kratosyoloswag said:

@kvally said:

@kratosyoloswag said:

It's unfortunate but it doesn't look like they were making any new games so it was bound to happen. They were already reduced and were only working on Driveclub updates.

Chances are that many of them will be moved to North West Studio to work on VR with the other Evolution employees.

Based on their comment, most of them are being let go and not moved. They were not working on just updates, they actually released a motorcycle DLC campaign for it too. But in the end, they really never produced any thing good.

They said they're relocating people where possible. it wasn't feasible to have an entire studio work on just Driveclub DLC and updates. Sony will have a new, smaller team that will continue to support Driveclub.

"Where possible we will try to reallocate people onto other projects," says Sony's statement. "If appropriate opportunities are not possible within the company, we will assist staff in any way we can, including speaking with local employers and with other development companies."

Xbox fans, I implore you not to lower yourselves to the standards that some of the Xbox haters exhibited here when news of Lionhead broke out.

Right now there is still an open troll thread about Lionhead in the Xbox forum, and so I hope some people will not resort to this behavior in the Playstation forum.

This kind of news is never easy, the best we can do is give moral support to the people affected and hope for the best.

Damn that sucks, why would Sony do this so close to when Microsoft did it.

I know since the last Motorstorm game they haven't been doing so well, but that wasn't entirely their fault it was just bad timing. They should have given them one more chance with a new Motorstorm game should have got them to remake the original as that was an awesome game.

I really fucking hate it when companies make a decision based purely on sales, they must know they have a lot of talent there.

The UK gaming industry is taking a right kicking at the moment.

How did Sony fvck over anybody? They didn't cancel a game that was almost complete and then shut down a studio without even giving their game a chance to succeed or fail. Evolution had 2 commercial flops in a row (Apocalypse and Driveclub) and weren't making anything diverse enough to the lineup when GT already exists.

Makes sense. Can't imagine #DRIVECLUB was that successful. All of the delays, the terrible launch, and the hilarious "free on PSN" thing that never really happened just killed the entire game.

You don't keep bad studios going. If you can't change their management to fix up the situation or find that it would be ineffective to try to save them, you shut them down. Standard business practices.

That's probably why Microsoft shut down Lionhead too.

You have to make money to stay in business or be a valuable addition to a larger product.

Sony is broke lol I could see this coming a mile away

If we had a penny for every excuse you have made for $ony, we would be rich.

And nothing of value was lost.

Lol, in.

just to see if theres as much manufactured Cow outrage over this as Lionhead.

Sony cut ties with them last June:

http://ps4daily.com/2015/06/rumor-sony-has-parted-ways-with-the-order-1886-developer/

After being close to buying the studio only that previous February:

http://n4g.com/news/1666216/sony-likely-to-acquire-ready-at-dawn-following-the-order-1886

(deleted link)

After the flop, Sony couldnt tell them to go **** themselves fast enough.

They did similar with Superbot (Playstation All Stars: Battle Royale) post flop, after assembling the independent studio for the sole purpose of creating the franchise.

They also the same with Lightbox and Incognito after Starhawk. And EatSleepPlay after Twisted Metal flopped. And Zipper after Socom 4 flopped. Forget that all of those games were underbaked, underfunded, unfinished, and sent out to die "soft launches" with ZERO marketing or exposure by Sony into a climate that at the time was already hostile/indifferent to Playstation exclusives.

@Alucard_Prime: I agree. People are out of work. That sucks for families economically. I hope they all land on their feet and still get to work in the industry they love. I played the free version of DC and it wasn't all that bad Imo. But I'm not racing fan and FH2 is enough for my rare racing fix.

@StrongDeadlift: Are you comparing this to the Lionhead situation? While it's sad both studios got shutdown, they're still different situations.

Sony didn't cancel a game that was set to be released soon. The Lionhead employees didn't even know about the studio shutting down until it was actually happening.

Evolution employees already had statements prepared and Sony also released a statement. Compare that to Microsoft that just left people in the dark for hours while Phil and Greenberg were throwing a party for The Division.

it's business.

Well that sucks. Hopefully they get moved around.

Nope !

Sony is as evil as MS.