Archive for January, 2009

1. UPDATE: Microsoft games losses confirmed

   January 26, 2009

   Multiple sources are confirming that Microsoft has already starting making cuts as part of its initial 1,400 layoffs: Venturebeat reports that Chris Early, general manager of Games for Windows Live, the online gaming service for gamers who play on personal computers has gone IGN confirms that the ACES Studio has been closed, although they claim [...]

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: aces studio, chris early, closures, games for windows live, layoffs, microsoft, redundancies

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2. Indie iPhone developer earning $21,000 a day from iPhone game

   January 26, 2009

   This is the kind of story that will make old-school developers misty-eyed for the days when they could conceive, develop, code and publish a game from their teenage bedrooms. Developer Ethan Nicholas works at Sun Microsystems. In his spare time, he developed a game called iShoot which allowed you to play as the gunner in [...]

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   Posted in: Analysis

   Tagged with: casual games, independent, indie, iphone, ishoot, mobile games, starred

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3. Sensory Sweep reported to owe staff $2m in pay

   January 25, 2009

   Kotaku has unearthed a US Department of Labor injunction alleging that Sensory Sweep has not paid its staff $2 million in back pay. With over three months pay owing, and an injunction preventing the shipping of a number of titles, we add Sensory Sweep to the GameOverZone.

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: closures, job loss tracker, layoffs, redundancies, sensory sweep

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4. Rumour: Microsoft closing MS Flight Sim studio

   January 23, 2009

   GamaSutra is reporting that Washington-based Aces Studio has seen substantial layoffs as part of Microsoft’s restructuring. Aces Studio is responsible for MS Flight Simulator, one of the longest-running franchises in the games industry. The studio is also developing Microsoft Train Simulator 2, the followup to Kuju’s original 2001 game. As soon as we get exact [...]

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: aces studio, job loss tracker, layoffs, metaboli, microsoft, ms flight sim, redundancies, rumour

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5. Eidos makes 14 staff redundant as it closes Rockpool Studios

   January 23, 2009

   Develop reports that Eidos has closed its Rockpool Studios in Manchester. The company was acquired in 2007 to bolster Eidos’s activities in casual and mobile. Arguably Rockpool didn’t fit into Eidos’s new studio-led, IP-centric strategy and is a logical target for restructuring. Edge points out that Rockpool had 36 staff when it was acquired.  It [...]

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: closures, eidos, job loss tracker, redundancies, rockpool

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6. Tech companies struggle as Microsoft, Sony and Nokia announced job losses

   January 23, 2009

   It’s been a hard week in the technology sector: Sony announced it would make an operating loss of $3 billion in the year to March 2009 which, suggests the FT, means that the company is bleeding about $40m a day. Sir Howard Stringer has plans to cut 16,000 jobs at Sony although the FT reports [...]

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: job loss tracker, layoffs, microsoft, nokia, redundancies, sony

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7. New route forward for developers: go bust and emerge stronger

   January 23, 2009

   Jonathan Guthrie wrote in the Financial Times earlier this week about phoenix companies. Phoenix companies take advantage of UK insolvency laws by doing pre-pack deals with administrators. The directors realise that the company is insolvent and have no choice but to appoint an administrator. The directors then form a new company and do a deal with [...]

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   Posted in: Finance

   Tagged with: admin, closures, insolvency, phoenix, slightly mad games

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