TimeGate Studios Lays Off All Staff, Was Working on Something Cool

News has dropped that TimeGate Studios, known for Section 8 and -most recently- as the studio that probably worked on most of Aliens: Colonial Marines, has layed off their entire staff.

The studio has been in dire straits as of late. They've filed for Chapter 11 Bankrupcy protection only to have their creditors fight the filing, and were recently caught up in the Aliens: Colonial Marines bruhaha between Gearbox and Sega. And, let's be honest, Section 8 wasn't really a sun in the video game sky either.

TimeGate wasn't completely floundering though. They were actually working on a cool little project called Minimum, a team combat third-person shooter created in Minecraft-esque voxels.

He [William Smith] describes the two-pronged thought process that led to the game’s birth, combining a personal passion for minimalist architecture with what amounts to a studio-wide belief that a game’s lore is just as important as its mechanics and presentation. “A large part of Minimum‘s aesthetic is founded on minimalist architecture,” Smith tells us. “These really simplified shapes. Taking detailed structures and [removing] all of the extraneous elements. [ I loved the idea of ] just making something really beautiful with amazing composition and amazing lighting.”

The game was set to seem exceptionally minimalist at the start and then grow exponentially as the player unlocked character and weapon upgrades. The voxel art-style also portends the ease for character customization as well.

This project, however may be no more as TimeGate looks like it just may be at the end of it's life cycle. It's too bad. As with most things in life now, I blame Aliens: Colonial Marines.