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THQ Shutters UK Studio, Homefront Developer Kaos
by Kyle Orland [Console/PC, Business]
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June 13, 2011
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THQ confirmed to Gamasutra today that it is in the process of closing developers Digital Warrington and Kaos Studios as part of a "strategic realignment" less than three months after the release of alternate-reality shooter Homefront.
"THQ continues its strategy of aligning the best industry talent with the company’s marquee franchises," the company said in a statement.
"The Montreal studio will take over product development and overall creative management for the Homefront franchise. The Montreal studio actively collaborated with Kaos on Homefront," the statement added.
The company went on to say that it is actively hiring for its locations in Montreal, Vancouver and Austin, and that employees from the shuttered studios will be able to interview for those positions.
Despite lower-than-expected review scores that seem tied to a temporary stock dip for THQ, the Kaos-developed Homefront sold an estimated million copies worldwide in its first 10 days on store shelves.
THQ let go of 17 Kaos employees at the end of March, leaving the studio with roughly 70 staffers. Kaos also developed the 2008 shooter Frontlines: Fuel of War.
Over 45 employees were employed at THQ's Digital Warrington studio, according to the company's website. The studio was founded in 2003 as Juice Games and best known for the Juiced series of racing titles before being acquired by THQ in 2006.
The studio's latest release, XBLA's Red Faction: Battlegrounds, received poor reviews and sales of just over 2,000 units in the month following its early April release, according to a Gamasutra analysis.
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Hiring managers, the Kaos team featured a number of truly amazing people. If you're hiring, this is a great group to talk to.
I think that was a major issue on that project. Actually one of many reason the project couldn't do more that 5 single player campaigns. Why on earth would anyone want to hire managers that couldn't effectively manage their way into AAA hit title.
It wasn't the hit THQ was making it out to be despite of marketing overspending that was done to influence sales either.
This is my confession of an errant designer
And what is the measure of that success? 5 million sales? 10 million? Why should a developer even bother trying to work unless they are absolutely certain their game will exceed all expectations?
Hiring managers hire those that have nice portfolios.
Just because the studio didn't work out doesn't mean there weren't an amazing group of individuals working there. THQ spent a ton of money to attract top talent to the area, and the developers at the studio reflect that investment. The studio itself didn't work out, but that doesn't mean that there weren't great people brought in to work on Frontlines and Homefront.
Guys, remember that you're talking about peoples lives and livelihoods. How about a little respect and empathy?
Unfortunately for you and many others that were trapped there,..all that talent left because they wouldn't put up with the BS management was invoking on that talented team of developers. If the management was so good and talented, why on earth did KAOS crunch so hard to spit out turd? Why the mass press about it either. Every studio crunch to some degree but why the BMW about it if it wasn't for poor management and leadership? Isn't that part of good management; staying on schedule and making sure the expectations of a hit title is being exemplified?
A lot of talented individuals left that production for a real good reason!!!
Mauricio is right "Hiring managers hire those that have nice portfolios."
and I'll go further in saying "hiring them for that valuable experience."
If management was so awesome why did it take several other studios to work on that same title? Why did Kaos ship with only 5 single player campaigns? That's a bit ridiculous don't you think? If I'm funding a developer I would want to make sure we hire good experience management and most importantly,...talented developers to craft that experience.
If you believe that every talented person that stayed at Kaos through Homefront development, or stayed until closure were trapped, that's just plain insulting. Many of us loved the studio and were completely invested in the product and the New York gaming community. Many of us have no intention of leaving NY with or without a AAA studio. And of those that left, do you know them? Do you know why they left? I do. And I know each one of their stories.
A short SP is becoming more and more common as the bar is raised for better graphics, physics, and animation. The consoles haven't improved in the last 5 years and we're still innovating ways to use these consoles. Go out and play Portal 2 or Black Ops and time your SP campaign.
Crunch has unfortunately become a part of AAA game development. Take Two, Treyarch, EA, and Kaos have all had very public crunches. Nearly every studio has gotten in the habit of doing it. We can discuss it academically about how crunch relates to bad management, but the reality of the business is that you are in direct competition with other teams of similar size and talent pools. If they are willing to crunch, they are going to get more features on the back of the box. When money talks, dev's start working weekends. It has become a nuclear arms race between studios and signs are that things will only get worse before they get better.
Go out and become a funding manager. Really take that on. Find your talent pool. Find experienced management. Craft that experience. See what happens.
He was not saying that anyone should HIRE THE MANAGERS from Kaos, he was speaking to the managers (AT OTHER STUDIOS) responsible for hiring people.
Meaning the "hiring manager (A job title)" at irrational (for example), should consider hiring the workers from Kaos.
In any case, good luck to everyone from Kaos.
Anyone here play Homefront? I love story-driven campaigns and was intruigued by the premise. But even though I don't put a lot of stock in reviews, it's been pretty hard to ignore all the negative (read: 7 and below) scores and complaints about a short single player campaign.
Wikipedia summarizes the studios history:
"Kaos Studios was an American video game developer based in New York City, New York. Kaos Studios was formed in 2006 when publisher THQ hired the core members of Trauma Studios, the team behind the popular Desert Combat modification, to create a new studio based in New York City to focus on first-person shooter video games.
In February 2008, Kaos Studios released their first game, Frontlines: Fuel of War, for the Xbox 360 and PC. In March 2009, THQ announced that Kaos Studios was recruiting for their upcoming game Homefront.[1] Homefront was released on March 15, 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in North America, with the European release set a week later.
It was announced that Kaos Studios would close permanently on June 13, 2011."
I don't see any independent devlopment phase in their history.
They technically didn't buy the indie company (Trauma), they bought the team.
That said....
The plot is pretty silly. I've yet to find a game where the studio does a believable invasion of the USA. Japan caves in. No threat from China. Europe is on the sidelines, and so are Mexico and Canada? Who's feeding the global economy with American gone. Homefront is interesting if you don't pay attention to detail. :)
Gameplay wise it feels like any other shooter. For being set in the future there could have been some neat gadgets or inventions. Instead it's run n' gun with a helicopter segment (just like Bad Company, Black Ops, MoH).
Overall the game is decent, but in an ocean of shooters it fails to set itself apart.
"They technically didn't buy the indie company (Trauma), they bought the team. "
By the time, THQ hired the core members or Trauma Studios, the studio itself was closed down by Digital Illusions, who owned the studio then. So, Trauma Studios wasn't an independent developer then.
Couple all of that with the previous poor performance of numerous THQ properties (and now Ref Faction too) and you're looking at a publisher in deep, deep trouble.
I have stated it before and will do so again: THQ will not survive without a serious executive shakeup at the highest levels. The above continues to prove this point.
Maybe we should have another concert for the resistance. Maybe that concert wasn't loud enough to rake in sales to payoff his marketing mess.
well, that's cute, isn't it? "we afford you the same opportunity as anyone else, see ya!"
"What matters the most is IP. For Take-Two, it's about GTA. It's about Red Dead. It's about the properties. It's not about even the individuals. So that's how we build our business."
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34097/Analysis_THQs_Long_Farewell_ To_Creative
_Mediocrity.php
That said, I chose not to work at another THQ studio after my layoff thinking 'why give them a second chance', and sure enough the one that I was kind of considering moving to (picked another studio, though it was a tough choice that came down to not wanting to be burned by THQ again) was shut down a couple of months later, so... D:
LOL yeah, that ought to tell ya about credibility. Your able to re-interview for a position you've held already. Then what,..get restaffed again to sink that production.
To all of my friends, I'm sorry. We should all grab beers and tell war stories.
Andrew, I'm starting to think we should have put this Joe character in charge...
Obviously building hit titles is easy and just requires us to all spend every hour of our lives on the project.
All sarcasm aside, these guys were very talented and I hope they can all find jobs in NYC. We should all show them a little empathy, they just lost their jobs.
One is still making hit titles!!!!!
Come to think of it,...is still making games as well!!!!!
Are you still convinced that Kaos studios can make hit titles under an 8 hour day schedule???
LOL
You got anything else?
And yes, I still believe you can make hit titles in an 8 hour day. Check out the IGDA Quality of Life Whitepaper for some good information on how to get it done: http://www.igda.org/sites/default/files/IGDA_QualityOfLife_WhitePaper.pdf
Good luck with your next endeavor. I'm so looking forward to seeing your 8 hour a day; next hit title.
God I hate PR speak. So very much.
It's scary when selling 100,000 units a day for over a week is not enough to keep your job. Maybe the powers that be can too easily sever those without power in this industry.
I wish these guys well,...hope they get jobs,...just stay away from my neck of the woods!!!!!
Worst of luck to you, sir!
But yeah, unfortunately, Khaos Studios didn't earn the reputation of Infinity Ward with Homefront.
It's not like Kaos devs suddenly have a lot of free time and are highly motivated to go onto dev job sites like Gamasutra. And these devs will have no reason to read an article and attached comments about themselves.
I mean, to just berate the people of one studio is just rude, but since these guys are soon going to be spread out across development studios across the globe, alienating them would be be epic. If you don't find a challenge in your career, that would definitely raise the bar.