Why Black Rock Studios Closing Makes More Sense Than You'd Think - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 06 July 2011 / 2,897 Views
I hate any studio closing, least of all talented ones like Black Rock Studios, which was shut down recently by Disney Interactive. But, as much as I hate to say it, much of it makes sense.
Bizzare Creations, creators of Blur, also were shuttered last year. When you compare the sales for Black Rock's own Split/Second and Blur, both which were released within the same month, you start to see similarities. Neither game topped 500k worldwide for either console in the first ten weeks, which is respectable but lacks the punch big publishers like Activision or Disney Interactive aim for.
The studio was placed into consultation period during the final months, a UK-based law that heralds imminent closure, which came after a large reduction in their workforce. Bizarre Creations was in an identical situation before their studio was shut down. Before that, Black Rock's newest project of a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game, so named after Defense of the Ancients) free-to-play game similar to League of Legends, was rejected.
It was stated by employees of the studio that the entire idea of going to social gaming was intended to be without Black Rock. Disney, apparently, had no interest in keeping the studio around, and regardless of what they pitched, Disney saw no use in keeping a studio that made racing titles when they wanted to do social.
Anonymous reports within the studio say that suggested marketing was "bemoaned", leading to the lackluster advertisement which no doubt contributed to the less-than-exciting sales, and that they frequently outsourced development needlessly, when Black Rock was eager for work.
Studios closing is always a terrible thing - especially when this company made a pair of solid games - but underperforming sales and a new direction for the publisher and Disney's reported clumsy handling means their fate was, sadly, imminent and unavoidable.
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form a new studio. all is not lost.
The racing genre seems a battlefield: time for Evolution Studios to follow?
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Liked the demo... though I thought the "insane" action wasn't nearly as visible as it should have, the changing tracks were nice.... too bad there's a gazillion racing games coming out all the time and that's it's a genre where you have a huge replay value...
it sucks cause blur was such a good game, if they added free maps every month or so it would have lasted and been a good game for month and months...
split second was ok, i thought it did better then it did though...
Another studio closing and I never played their games, but if I saw those two games on store shelves I will probably overlook them.
