It's been announced that Manhattan-based Kaos Studios, responsible for both Homefront and Frontlines: Fuel of War, will be closed down by THQ. The studio has received a 60 day warning, which is required by UK law, and THQ has stated that affected employees will have a chance to interview with other internal studios.

Also caught in the fray is THQ Digital Warrington, based in the UK and responsible for Red Faction Battlegrounds and Warhammer 40K: Kill Team. Rumor of Kaos Studios' closing has been circling for months and it seems that today is the day THQ decided to pull the plug.

THQ has given no definitive word as to the reason for the closing other than giving a slightly obtuse statement about "strategic realignment within its internal studio structure," but it's also possible that a tepid response to Homefront might have sealed the deal.

Of course it's never a good day when a studio closes down, so we wish them the best and hopefully they can get back to doing the thing they love soon.

[Source: Joystiq]

Comments

  • Avatar
    Greg the Keg
    12 years, 9 months ago

    "Of course it’s never a good day when a studio closes down, so we wish them the best and hopefully they can get back to doing the thing they love soon."

    Pretty much sums up my feelings on this. It's a shame anytime something like this happens, and I hope these guys and girls get back on their feet quickly and painlessly.

  • Avatar
    jon2435
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Dang, but what can you do? Games these days with that much money thrown at them have to be the best. If not those teams run this risk.

  • Avatar
    oplock
    12 years, 9 months ago

    This has been the trend since the recession began: throw lots of money at a AAA title, ship the game, sales go badly, shut down the studio. I would not be surprised if this is going to push the industry to lower budget games to help reduce the risk and loses for when new IP fails. The rise in popularity of indie games is not going to go unnoticed by these large publishers.

  • Avatar
    swanton7192
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Well, Homefront really wasn't that good. :/

  • Avatar
    swanton7192
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Well, Homefront really wasn't that good. :/

    It's a shame though.

  • Avatar
    VagrantHige
    12 years, 9 months ago

    This can be the result of multiple things all coming together:

    1) Homefront was underwhelming. THQ put a lot of money behind Homefront (especially in all that damn advertising) and was rewarded with minimal returns and poor reviews.

    2) Internal restructuring. I realize it seems to be thrown out as a PR term but there is probably a lot of truth to it. When a major publisher isn't doing so hot they can't afford to house tons of development teams and projects at the same time. This is a way for them to downsize while retaining the integral members of Kaos under their umbrella to cut costs. It's business in the simplest terms.

    I hate hearing about studios closing down but in this day and age it can't be helped. Everytime a studio gets the funding and opportunity to attempt a large scale blockbuster the stakes on that company are huge. Very few times anymore do we see a studio get a second chance to get it right when the first game did poorly. All the more reason to be glad Prey 2 is even getting a chance to come out.

  • Avatar
    kd_battletoad
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Thats a shame

  • Avatar
    SomethingSnappy
    12 years, 9 months ago

    because homefront was poop

  • Avatar
    Rendrak
    12 years, 9 months ago

    It's never good when a studio shuts down, but I'm having a hard time caring about a developer that only made modern day war shooters.

  • Avatar
    Comradebearjew
    12 years, 9 months ago

    This is what happens when you spend millions on marketing a crap game

  • Avatar
    inthenameofharmon
    12 years, 9 months ago

    They shouldn't have been shut down, there was room for learning to be had as with any studio
    :[
    this sucks

  • Avatar
    Leenad
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Well, Homefront was a very poopy game, had this game not been advertised as it was I think Kaos Studios would've simply learned from their mistake and go on to make something better if at least slightly better. But shit happens, it is always sad to see a studio with potential go away because of a single poopy game in their record while others can go ahead and somehow get away with it....I'm looking at you Mercurysteam.

  • Avatar
    AdjacentKitten
    12 years, 9 months ago

    This entire situation feels the same as the recent Brink/Bethesda debacle. x-x

  • Avatar
    Killacure
    12 years, 9 months ago

    This is terrible news. I partly blame the fair weather 'hardcore gamer' and their demand for over priced and over appreciated blockbuster titles that are killing the market for real gamers! Those of us that need to play more than 100 games a year to feed the hunger; shooters, platformers, puzzle, strategy, rpg's who cares what genre. One less dev making entertaining gaming experiences. RIP Kaos, Bizarre, Grin and Pandemic.

  • Avatar
    GoroLink94
    12 years, 9 months ago

    I want Cavia back