Bad news for the UK game development community today, as Develop reports that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have closed portable gaming specialist BigBig Studios as part of a larger reorganisation of their British studio structure.
Founded in 2001 by a group of former Codemasters employees and based in Leamington Spa, the studio was acquired by Sony in 2007 along with parent company Evolution Studios. BigBig worked exclusively on products for the Playstation Portable consoles, including the PSP version of MotorStorm, Arctic Edge, as well as the PS Vita launch title Little Deviants. The game has yet to come to market outside Japan.
As part of the general restructuring, Sony’s Cambridge-based studio will partner with Guerrilla Games to design Killzone games for mobile platforms including the PS Vita.
Sony have yet to release details on how many employees will be affected by either move, although the impact is sure to be felt by the close-knit UK development industry. Some employees may be offered other positions within SCEE, however the majority will be forced to look elsewhere for new jobs.
“We know most of the guys at Bigbig very well, they’re extremely talented and have done some amazing games, ” said David Darling, Codemasters founder and CEO of developer Kwalee. “Here in Leamington centre there are at least 14 development studios and we have Codemasters just out of town. Many of these, like ourselves at Kwalee, are recruiting… so hopefully nobody is going to be out of a job for very long!”
Speaking to Develop, Sony officials said that development resources were needed elsewhere in the group. “It was felt that by focusing on other Studios that are currently working on exciting new projects, we would be in a stronger position to offer the best possible content for our consumers,” the company claimed.
Sony still remains the first-party publisher with the largest number of game studios currently operating — a total of 15 worldwide.
In related news, Bethesda have confirmed that Rage developer id Software will be making layoffs at its Dallas studio. Bethesda’s PR Pete Hines told Gamasutra that ”as part of its standard business practice, id regularly evaluates staffing to ensure it has a workforce that meets the needs of the studio… as part of that process, some id employees were recently let go.”
That’s some hard hitting news. With the high street taking a pounding too it’s not looking for the smaller games companies.
On the flipside, Microsoft are reporting their most profitable profit from their video game related products ever.