Epic games, maker of Gears of War and the popular Unreal Engine, is shutting down its Maryland-based studio Impossible Studios after just six months.
First announced in August, Impossible was formed from the ashes of Big Huge Games, the Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning developer that was destroyed when owner 38 Studios went bankrupt. The studio director was Sean Dunn, previous GM at Big Huge Games, and former THQ creative director behind the Dawn of War and Company of Heroes series.
The studio was in charge of Infinity Blade Dungeons, the prequel to Epic's popular iOS series, which was created by another of its external studios, Chair Entertainment.
That game was delayed from its initial release date last year, and has yet to appear on the App Store. Epic did not specifically say that the project wasn't going as well as expected, though founder Tim Sweeney did comment that the partnership "wasn't working out," and that the game is on hold while Epic figures out what to do with it.
"When former members of Big Huge Games approached Epic last year, we saw the opportunity to help a great group of people while putting them to work on a project that needed a team," he said in a statement.
"It was a bold initiative and the Impossible folks made a gallant effort, but ultimately it wasn’t working out for Epic."
Epic isn't leaving the studio's employees out in the cold, however. Sweeney says that they're all getting three months of severance pay, and allowing them to form a new company with the same name and logo.
"...allowing them to form a new company with the same name and logo."
What? I've heard of employees buying a company to keep it alive, but letting a company dissolve and then immediately forming a new company with the same name, logo and employees? That's a new one for me. There has to be more to the story.
Such a shame. Those guys & gals put out a very enjoyable rpg, show alot of skill & get sacked twice within a years time.
Once again, Best of luck to all those from BHG.
So Impossible Studios gets a logo and 3 months severance, while Epic takes back Infinity Blade: Dungeons and I would gather all of the work done so far?
Just remake Rise of Nations without Gamespy.
Instant $$
The closest competition is Civ multiplayer which is even worse than it used to be when RoN was around..
Honestly, that's a much better spot for them to be in than had Epic never bought them. Crappy situations are always crappy, but at least they happened to fall a little more softly and even have a chance to rise again.
I wonder how much this cost Epic. Starting a new studio is a significant investment, and 6 months is pretty short.
3 months severance and the company name and logo... seems like a pretty soft landing to me. But I agree with what someone earlier said, gotta be more to the story.
Disappointing. I didn't think the chances of getting more Kingdoms of Amalur could be any lower, but alas, here we are.
What? I've heard of employees buying a company to keep it alive, but letting a company dissolve and then immediately forming a new company with the same name, logo and employees? That's a new one for me. There has to be more to the story.
That's enough time to put together a couple demos and find an investor to keep the lights on, in theory.
Teh game industrah.
(I am kidding, to be clear)
Once again, Best of luck to all those from BHG.
That's... ouch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Vlt-lpVOY
Instant $$
The closest competition is Civ multiplayer which is even worse than it used to be when RoN was around..
I wonder how much this cost Epic. Starting a new studio is a significant investment, and 6 months is pretty short.