As time goes on, new games arrive and new creative minds enter the industry. Sadly, with the passing of the seasons also comes death, which in the gaming medium means studio closures. The following ten studios listed below are the saddest closures to occur this past decade.
Fortunately, some people from these companies went on to form their own studios and release celebrated products. (A few of these did have relatively dour ends, though.) But even if they left on bad ground, their respective pasts usually have video games worth valuing and carrying on into the future. Even if one isn’t a fan of the studio, their demise should never be celebrated.
10 Kojima Productions
Despite how painful Hideo Kojima’s exodus was from Konami, it’s worth noting how quickly the creator got back on his feet and founded a new studio. All the ado surrounding Kojima’s departure was unpleasant, but at least Death Stranding came out as a result, and fans are thrilled with the recent title.
The one victim which may never find salvation is the Metal Gear series. All the commotion and changing business structure within Konami occurred just as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was reaching the end of its development cycle. The 2015 title is still fantastic, but clearly unfinished. It says a lot about the old Kojima Productions, however, that it still manages to be one of the best games in the series despite its glaring flaws.
9 Neversoft
Joel Jewett co-founded Neversoft, which made big waves with its third game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The annual extreme sports franchise was on a streak of hits for almost a decade before bailing hard with Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. After the franchise slowly deteriorated they started making Guitar Hero games.
When the rhythm game fad settled, they went on to working on Call of Duty: Ghosts. They then closed down in 2014. Tony Hawk has seen several attempts at a revival since then, but it doesn’t look like they’ll ever recapture Neversoft’s magic.
8 Telltale
Telltale’s string of narrative-driven games all seemed like huge successes, making it a curious turn of events when they announced their closure in October 2018. But once the truth behind the studio’s management and culture came to light, it became clearer why they went under. Employees were consistently forced to crunch to meet unrealistic deadlines. With brutal work hours comes a loss of morale and passion. Their unsustainable model caught up with them, leaving several projects in limbo until LCG Entertainment swooped in and revived the studio name, completing The Walking Dead’s final season and recently announcing the much desired Wolf Among Us 2.
7 Visceral Games
Visceral was known as EA Redwood Shores until shortly after Dead Space’s release. Glen Schofield notes Resident Evil 4 as a huge influence on the science fiction’s survival horror game, though Isaac’s terrifying journey brought plenty of its own innovation to the horror genre. Schofield left shortly after to form Sledgehammer Games, and Visceral kept chugging along until 2017 when the studio was closed by EA. At the time they had been working on a Star Wars game which had Amy Hennig on board.
6 Free Radical
Free Radical’s cult classic series TimeSplitters was a joyous FPS romp from the early 2000s. When the PS3 came out, they tried to take a more serious tone with Haze, a game which crashed and burned hard due to its wonky gameplay and throwaway story. The game’s failure put them on thin ice, and Crytek salvaged them as Crytek UK. In 2014, however, the final nail in the coffin went in and the studio closed down. Remnants became Dambuster Studios. Recently, whispers of a TimeSplitters revival have been emerging, since THQ Nordic now owns the property.
5 Zipper Interactive
On the PS2, SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs was just about the only online competitive shooter that mattered. Unfortunately, the franchise’s time on the PS3 was not so glorious. SOCOM 4 had a rocky launch which wasn’t helped by the game’s release coinciding with the infamous PlayStation Network outage of 2011. The developer released one more title, the PS Vita exclusive Unit 13, before closing their doors for good in early 2013 at Sony’s behest, leaving two projects canceled.
4 Evolution Studios
Evolution Studios made waves with their PS3 exclusive series MotorStorm. After that trilogy they tried their hand at Drive Club, a more realistic racing title on the PS4.
Unfortunately, the title was a failure and the studio closed in 2016, with many employees heading to Codemasters. It’s impossible to say if MotorStorm will ever make a comeback. Unfortunate, since the series was an enjoyable counterpart to the more grounded Gran Turismo series.
3 THQ
From 1990 to 2012, THQ brought several lovely franchises to gamers including Destroy All Humans, Red Faction, and Saint’s Row. The publisher struggled hard in its final years, however, and eventually declared bankruptcy, leaving many of its properties in jeopardy. Nordic Games swept in and picked up several IPs, transforming into THQ Nordic. Because of this, series like Saint’s Row and Darksiders managed to live on. Several other properties have yet to reemerge, however.
2 Maxis Emeryville
Will Wright founded Maxis in 1987 with Jeff Braun, and the pair came out of the gate swinging with SimCity. The classic title was followed by numerous simulation games, until they struck gold again with The Sims.
Wright left Maxis Emeryville in 2009, shortly after the release of Spore and is currently working on a promising mobile title, Proxi, and Maxis Emeryville closed down in 2015. A team called Maxis still exists within EA, but they are working on mobile titles.
1 Lionhead Studios
Lionhead’s two major game franchises were Black & White and Fable, with the latter gaining far more notoriety. The role-playing series became one of Microsoft’s most prestigious exclusives. Peter Molyneux, one of the founders and the most famous name behind the company, left his studio in 2012 due to exhaustion with the Fable series. Four years later the studio closed, canceling Fable Legends. Fable’s future has been uncertain ever since, though Phil Spencer has hinted at its comeback several times recently.
