PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale developer SuperBot Entertainment has apparently been struck by a round of layoffs. According to Insomniac Games designer Mike Birkhead, around 20 employees were released earlier today. “When it rains, it pours,” he said, presumably in reference to the recent slew of job losses at defunct publisher THQ.
The second party studio’s mascot brawler was a solid success critically, but it failed to set the sales charts alight. Nevertheless, rumours of a sequel emerged late last year, suggesting that there’s still plenty of fight left in the franchise. Layoffs are common at the end of a project, so this may not signal the death of the upstart. We'll shoot a message to Sony to see if we can find out what's going on.
Update: Sony has issued a statement to IGN. “SCEA can confirm that SuperBot Entertainment did make a reduction in their workforce today," it reads. "The studio and SCEA remain committed to supporting PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale post launch, including developing the title’s forthcoming DLC releases in the coming months."
[source twitter.com, via twitter.com, neogaf.com]
Comments 9
Yeah not enough people know the Sony characters like they know Nintendo's. They should have expected this.
am I the only one sick of hearing news of industry layoffs and studios going under? Kinda getting me depressed I love this game, but the end boss (Polygon Man) fight could have been better and more entertaining than him back talking, turning into crap in the back ground, and trying to crush you with his head, I mean come on! Overall, it's awesome, but Smash Bros is definitely more polished of a game.
Just needs more polish and a much better campaign mode.
20 out of how many? I know it doesn't matter to the 20 who got fired (lay-off is such a cop-out, it's like dumping somebody and telling them you still want to be friends) but it may matter for the company if they only had 20 employees, but not so much if they had 200.
@rjejr: Firing implies the employee is at fault, lay-off does not. At least, that's my perspective.
I think the game would have sold better if the beta hadn't been so terrible. I cancelled my preorder because of that beta! I did buy the game later on (at a discount, but still new) and have really enjoyed it. This game is a strong argument AGAINST demos and betas, as things can go so horribly wrong.
I do find the lay-offs particularly strange though, because the studio was HIRING just a month ago! They shouldn't have brought new people on of they were just going to have to kick them out so soon.
@Stuffo: Regarding the lay-offs, companies pick up people to replace non-essential ones that have been with 'em for too long and cost too much to employ (via raises, bonuses, benefits/retirement fund contributions, etc). Unfortunately, it's a pretty common strategy in the workplace to keep costs as low as possible, i'm sure you're familiar with it having worked retail and all.
What happens when you put out a crappy game that doesn't sell at last a million copies, the game sucked to me, so no, I'm not surprised
That was expexted =)...Game could be much better as Dissidia or Ehrgeiz clone.
The game was great. The characters, stages, supers, movesets, and items were all well done. I've played every Smash Bros game and none of them really impressed me. But, when I got my hands on All-Stars, I forgot all about the crappy(to me anyway) Smash Bros franchise. Although, All-Stars could have had more press and a slightly bigger launch roster.
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