PS3 Killing Developers

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

R.I.P. Free Radical Design

R.I.P. Factor 5

 

Create an exclusive for the PS3 and you're dead. Who's next?

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Crazyace]

What about ensemble studios - you could say 'work on halo title and get closed down by microsoft'

[ninjarabbit]

High development costs + low install base = death

[PressureCooker2600]

damn....they're gone....i liked both those companies

 

free radical did the timesplitters series and was made of the "old breed" from Rare, if i remember correctly.

 

and factor 5 sounds really familiar.....just can't remember off hand

[Reaperman]

and factor 5 sounds really familiar.....just can't remember off hand

they did that horrid ballblazer game on playstation. and the rogue squadrons--which weren't terrible. and a lot of turricans, which other people seem to like.

 

but recently their name is usually associated with their audio technology--which was licensed by everybody. worked especially well on gbc and gba, but it made its way to the big consoles too.

Edited December 21, 2008 by Reaperman

[Gabriel]

Looking at their game list on Wikipedia, it looks much more like a case of:

 

Free Radical Design: Make inferior copies of more popular games and go out of business.

 

Factor 5: Make fucking horrible unplayable (oftentimes movie based games) and go out of business. It's really clear these guys were only in the game because of close ties to LucasArts.

 

If you're going to get all anti-PS3, I think the flop of Little Big Planet and the embarrassing sales of the stellar Valkyria Chronicles supports your argument much more than two loser game studios going under.

[vdub_bobby]

Looks like in both of those cases, the companies had hits on the previous generation (TimeSplitters, Rogue Squadron), then took too long to come out with their next game, which turned out to be a giant flop (Lair, Haze). Basically, after some success 5+ years ago, they put all their eggs in one basket. Which turned out to not be such a good idea.

[shadow460]

Looking at their game list on Wikipedia, it looks much more like a case of:

 

Free Radical Design: Make inferior copies of more popular games and go out of business.

 

Factor 5: Make fucking horrible unplayable (oftentimes movie based games) and go out of business. It's really clear these guys were only in the game because of close ties to LucasArts.

 

If you're going to get all anti-PS3, I think the flop of Little Big Planet and the embarrassing sales of the stellar Valkyria Chronicles supports your argument much more than two loser game studios going under.

 

I agree with you regarding Factor 5. Their older games seemed to be all glitz and little gameplay, really. Sure, they were pretty to look at, but the gameplay just did not scream "play me!", and I'd put them down after beating them.

 

No offense to Cybergoth, but I was wondering why he thought that way about the PS3? I'm just curious .

Edited December 22, 2008 by shadow460

[Jess Ragan]

Looking at their game list on Wikipedia, it looks much more like a case of:

 

Free Radical Design: Make inferior copies of more popular games and go out of business.

 

Factor 5: Make fucking horrible unplayable (oftentimes movie based games) and go out of business. It's really clear these guys were only in the game because of close ties to LucasArts.

 

If you're going to get all anti-PS3, I think the flop of Little Big Planet and the embarrassing sales of the stellar Valkyria Chronicles supports your argument much more than two loser game studios going under.

 

Is Little Big Planet really a flop, though? Has that been established as a fact? If so, that'd be a shame... this is the first time in a while that Sony has tried to do something new and different, and if they're punished for it they're far less likely to take chances in the future.

[Cybergoth]

No offense to Cybergoth, but I was wondering why he thought that way about the PS3? I'm just curious .

 

Uhm, what way am I thinking about the PS3? I'm basically mourning the death of those developers. Factor 5 were German and I've always been a fan the past 20 years, starting with Katakis/Turrican.

 

They were playing insane risks by supporting the smallest userbase only, so a single flop killed them. Other small teams like Grasshopper, Platinum Games, Camelot, Monster Games, Retro Studios or Kuju are still happily creating good Wii games, neither needing the manpower nor cash required to do HD.

[A Sprite]

I think the flop of Little Big Planet

 

Wrong sales model. Games outside of the mainstream require word of mouth to develop - the intelligent audiences they appeal to aren't going to impulse buy based on the hype. If word of mouth is good, the game will usually continue to sell steady units over a long period of time - look at Symphony of the Night for the PSOne.

Edited December 22, 2008 by A Sprite

[shadow460]

No offense to Cybergoth, but I was wondering why he thought that way about the PS3? I'm just curious .

 

Uhm, what way am I thinking about the PS3? I'm basically mourning the death of those developers. Factor 5 were German and I've always been a fan the past 20 years, starting with Katakis/Turrican.

 

They were playing insane risks by supporting the smallest userbase only, so a single flop killed them. Other small teams like Grasshopper, Platinum Games, Camelot, Monster Games, Retro Studios or Kuju are still happily creating good Wii games, neither needing the manpower nor cash required to do HD.

 

I got it now. Just wondered.

[cimerians]

Well...if the games were any good maybe they would still be around. What have either of them really done for the masses over the last 10 years?

Rogue Squadron was good but thats not enough. Not with the salaries all of these people demand to make the game.

 

I have to agree with Sprite.

 

Anything they have done lately has been of little interest to anyone. Wonder why.

 

Nothing lasts forever.

 

Im not defending any "system".

 

I'm looking at it like this:

 

Are the games good that can appeal to everyone? Is the company smart? (and not just throwing around money?)

 

Sorry but In my opinion I dont know why Sony bothered with them in the first place.

A nod to anyone else who ignored them, like Nintendo maybe? I dont know.

[n8littlefield]

I don't think it's system specific to the PS3 - I think generally any relatively small independant studio that tries to make a blockbuster sized title on the High Def console is taking a HUGE gamble that most can't really afford to take. Unless you are absolutely sure that you have a hook that is going to put you head and shoulders above the competition, as a smaller house you need to avoid putting all your eggs in one large, expensive basket.

[Video]

Well, it's kinda a problem when they release games to far apart and they are flops, even the good ones.

 

Ensemble will be missed, I loved the Age of Mythology game and play it regularly to this day (hoped for a console conversion, it's an older doable RTS game)

[DaytonaUSA]

I actually really enjoyed Factor 5's games in their prime. However, Rogue Squadron 3 was a major disappointment for me and im sure many others. Then Factor 5 kinda took a long vacation and made a flop. With no other games in development, there was no more money to bank on. But like said above, I'd hardly blame the PS3 for this. If they bothered making more than one game every 3 years and made good ones, they might still be around.

 

I will forever be thankful to Free Radical for the battlefront series, but even the most fanboyish of Sony fanboys would tell you Haze was an embarrassment.

 

Lastly, judging from sales numbers, I wouldn't call LBP a flop my any stretch of the imagination. It's sold out locally around here in many stores, and sales, while lower than expected maybe, are still nothing to laugh about. Certainly not in the low double digits like poor Zack and Wiki. I mean, LBP just reached 200,000 units sold in Europe alone. That's nothing to laugh about.

 

Btw, if you want some examples of SUCESSFUL companies developing on the PS3 that aren't necessarily huge powerhouses, I'm sure you won't have to look very hard. If I were a dev company that was smaller, I'd create one HD game and maybe 2-4 Wii/DS/PSP games. That way if the HD game was successful, big money... if not, the other small low budget titles would back me up for future projects. If companies like Factor 5 weren't so damn stingy with making Rogue Squadron games, they could have easily ported the N64 title to the VC, and done a "made for wii" port of the other two games for the Wii and made millions of dollars. Not that hard...

[Cybergoth]

Lastly, judging from sales numbers, I wouldn't call LBP a flop my any stretch of the imagination. It's sold out locally around here in many stores, and sales, while lower than expected maybe, are still nothing to laugh about. Certainly not in the low double digits like poor Zack and Wiki. I mean, LBP just reached 200,000 units sold in Europe alone. That's nothing to laugh about.

 

LBP was Sonys big game this Christmas, so anything less than 2 million copies is probably considered a flop.

 

Even Zack & Wiki, a small niche title, sold over 500.000 copies on the Wii by now.

[DaytonaUSA]

Lastly, judging from sales numbers, I wouldn't call LBP a flop my any stretch of the imagination. It's sold out locally around here in many stores, and sales, while lower than expected maybe, are still nothing to laugh about. Certainly not in the low double digits like poor Zack and Wiki. I mean, LBP just reached 200,000 units sold in Europe alone. That's nothing to laugh about.

 

LBP was Sonys big game this Christmas, so anything less than 2 million copies is probably considered a flop.

 

Even Zack & Wiki, a small niche title, sold over 500.000 copies on the Wii by now.

 

 

Hmm wow ok. Besides the exercise equipment and virtual instruments, I guess I've been following a bit too much of Nintendo up till now. A million in sales is like a freakin celebration in software usually haha.

[Royalshin]

Okay you know what the problem with these companies droping dead all over the place is? They aren't Japanese. Like the OP said high production costs + low fan base = Halo and good bye. If there going to die anyways why not go out with bang and produce something for a change.

 

Factor 5 is a tool by choice and had nothing else to do with anybody outside being a tool. Free Radical Design while being remembered RARE employees released Time Splitters at least. Maybe Factor Five and Free Radical Design can finally create a game, publish it, and release it as a going away present to the world. Maybe it will bring back both of them as one company.

 

I searched and heard about Pumpkin Beach which is to be the new Free Radical Design

 

However they aren't going to be making anymore FPS

 

low fan base

 

Personally I am a fan of the original Perfect Dark. However when I heard Time Splitters on my system was going not going to be a Netplay game I just couldn't pick it up. Also I got big and my wallet....got smaller.

Edited January 10, 2009 by Royalshin

[Princess-Isabela]

it's saturn all over again, isn't it ^_~

ok, it's not that tough to develop on