A bad day for gaming. Sony have confirmed what we rumoured a little while back – that developers Zipper have been closed down.
“The closure is a result of a normal cycle of resource re-alignment within SCE WWS,” said a statement from Sony. “Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita.”
“Zipper titles MAG, SOCOM 4 and Unit 13 will continue to be supported, including the new Daily Challenges in Unit 13.”
“After 17 years it’s time to head off into the sunset,” said the Zipper twitter in the last couple of hours. “A sincere thank you to all our fans for everything you’ve done for us. Farewell.”
Elsewhere, rumours about Sega started on Reddit a few hours ago – “Sega of America, operating out of San Francisco, is closing its doors,” said the posting. “Me and all our teams just received the sad news. I’ll miss working with that silly hedgehog.”
There’s no evidence that Sega are “closing its doors” but there does seem to be some chatter about job losses, sadly, in the QA department.
Two SEGA employees, picked up by GAF, seem to echo this. “My heart hurts as if part of it left the building with the others,” says one, who also retweeted the following: “Sega of America news actually breaks my heart. Good luck to all looking for work after the layoffs.”
“It’s been a good 6 years,” says another. “I’m leaving with a lot of brilliant memories. It’s a sad day but on to new things.”
The news follows Sega’s dramatically bad ¥7.1 billion loss, which promised “restructuring”, especially of the EU and US offices.
Crocadillian
Although i’m sure the worst is yet to come as the publisher business model goes out of date, it is still sad (for the employees).
skibadee
few kickstarter projects & you think publishers are going away?
Crocadillian
Actually, many kickstarter projects. There are many video-game related posts and a lot of them are going well. Plus the popularity of open development platforms where a console manufacturer + publisher isn’t required.
I think the rumored Steam Console, if it’s released, will be the final nail in the coffin for traditional publishing. Otherwise it will probably take a longer time for it to shrink out, but they should still be worried :3.
skibadee
be a while before the big guys are not needed imo I have not seen a full AAA title done yet & the steam console is not happening Valve have already said so.http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-09-valve-no-steam-box-any-time-soon
Sympozium
Would be lovely to just see the publisher-type that ruins Dev Studios and slaves them into making the same countless games for a franchise will go.
I bet with all these closures happening could independents think twice?
skibadee
studios have been closing for years it is nothing new a new one opens cycle carries on.
cam_manutd
Hope the guys+girls affected get back on their feet soon :)
Sympozium
Damn sad news here, so as usual jobs are lost but I hope these people can find themselves new work in the future.
skibadee
hope you land on your feet enjoyed your games.
David Carlson
I loved MAG, and was hoping for a sequel :(
aerobes
All bad news and figures like 7.1 billion are just incredible. How are Sega as a whole still in business after posting that?
Burgess_101
Well its Yen so its not as bad as it seems. but its still obviously a lot of money. £565255.55.
aerobes
Oops! lol. Thanks for that. :)
Bladesteel
”Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita.”
No they haven’t. Unit 13 still has serious bugs that need to get sorted out before the (otherwise excellent) game can be recommended.
Vaile23
Let’s face it, now they’ve gone to the wall it will never be fixed. As much as I want the game to be good, it’s just going to fall short.
It’s bad for the dev’s to lose their jobs, but hopefully it will result in games ultimately becoming more rounded and well polished
Bladesteel
Unfortunately I agree, we’re not very likely to see a patch now.
The point of my post was mostly to draw attention to the blatant lie in Sonys statement.
Foxhound_Solid
Shame, real Shame.
XRAVE
a shame are you kidding?? Zipper deserve this period. Finally the Vets has won the war – well ok they should have released socom 2 HD first lol.
The Lone Steven
Come on now, people have lost their jobs. What do you mean by the vets have won the war? I didn’t know that Zipper had annoyed every vet in the world. :O
Bladesteel
Some decision makers deserve to lose their bonus (but those might be on the publisher side instead of with the devs), but I can’t see how anybody deserves to lose their job.
Bladesteel
Why do they spam here when there is a “nofollow” added to the link? They won’t get any improved search ranking, and they can’t possibly believe anyone here will follow the links.
bigmac175
Well thats quite a big loss for the playstation fans, me especially loving the SOCOM series and unit 13 is a great game for vita. And i have a real sweet spot for MAG. It’s unfortunate to let these go, hopefully someone will pick up these titles and make new in future.