It was inevitable. As the economy went down in flames and dragged down all sorts of industries, the layoffs started in the game industry. And, with the layoffs and closings comes the acquisitions. Bargain basement prices for game studios technology, IP, you name it.
Gamasutra’s reporting on Free Radicals’ acquisition by Crytek. Good news, as some commenters said, but only for those 40 people that remained (140 were laid off).
In addition, Ubisoft grabbed Action Pants to give itself a West Coast studio. Thing is, Action Pants (with their lovely site that doesn’t seem to work with Flash 10) hasn’t finished anything (they set up shop in 2006). You have to assume Ubisoft isn’t about to waste money on a dev studio they don’t believe in but there aren’t any more experienced studios? And, before anyone argues, “But, but, they were formed by game devs from other studios,” remember, it’s not just the experience but how the team works together. Without seeing a finished product, how do you know the team will be able to deliver?
Anyhoo, it’ll be interesting to see the lay of the land a year from now when the dust settles from the economic “meltdown” (I see it more as a correction for all the bullshit everyone’s been smoking for the last half decade). Stay tuned!
UPDATE: Warner Brothers has jumped into the fray, acquiring Snow Blind. Nothing crazy but it definitely looks like consolidation time in the industry. The plus side? As we bottom out in this economy, people will start spilling out and creating new studios, assuming the funding still exists, so we can start all over again.
kn
