The Codemasters studio behind troubled first-person shooter Bodycount looks set to close, after the publisher confirmed it's proposed to retire the Guildford development facility.
The company said the move will affect 66 personnel at the developer as it moves to strengthen its core racing portfolio, which includes DiRT, GRID and F1 titles, and focus resources on teams in Birmingham and at its Warwickshire HQ.
The news comes after flagship shooter Bodycount released to mixed reviews, debuting at a disappointing 36th place in the UK Charts.
We of course wish the best of luck to all affected Codemasters Guildford employees in their future careers.
The publisher said in a statement:
Codemasters' future product development strategy will see additional studio resource invested to extend its world-class racing portfolio. The company is increasing the size of existing development teams at its on-campus studios in Warwickshire (DiRT, GRID, F1 Online, Central Technology/EGO) while forming a further team to work alongside the F1 2011 team at its Birmingham studio on a new racing title.
In line with the strategy, the company is proposing to retire from its facility in Guildford, most recently responsible for the shooter Bodycount. If progressed, the move will affect 66 Guildford studio personnel; staff are now involved in a consultation period to discuss the proposal.
"As Codemasters looks to take greater leadership in the racing category, the company is proposing a studio structure that adds resource and strengthens our best-in-class racing teams," said a Codemasters spokesperson.
"The output from the studios on the Warwickshire campus and in Birmingham is on the increase with multiple continuing game series, brand extensions and new racing IPs in production. Both the Warwickshire and Birmingham studios have won BAFTAs for their critically acclaimed, multi-million selling titles and the company is adding resource to ensure they constantly over achieve in this competitive sector."
Codemasters envisages that it will continue to have a number of open positions within the Racing and Online studio teams at Codemasters' campus in Warwickshire working on DiRT, GRID, F1 Online and with the F1 team in Birmingham, which is being expanded to house a full second team working on a new racing IP. In the event that staff working within the Guildford site are affected by the current proposals, they will be encouraged to apply for suitable positions on campus and in the Birmingham studio.
Comments
31 comments so far...
TheCrimsonFenix on 14 Sep '11 said:
After a hands on with the demo I'm not surprised they were at risk. This may feel like a petty niggle compared to the loss of their team but whose bloody idea was it to go the Halo 2 route and have the crosshair that low down on the screen? It always looked ridiculous and the only effect it has on me personally is making me feel as though I have weights tied to the back of my head.
MrMoobs on 14 Sep '11 said:
No surprise really.. awful game.
YouStoleMyKill on 14 Sep '11 said:
Worst game this gen...
_Marty_ on 14 Sep '11 said:
It was quite formulaic, but I kinda enjoyed the demo.
That aside, am I the only one who wants Codemasters to return to their Dizzy-esque roots? When did driving games become their only focus?
_Marty_ on 14 Sep '11 said:
*points at Vampire Rain*
Nuff said
RichPerry on 14 Sep '11 said:
Didn't play the game, but I think it's fairly ludicrous that yet another UK developer office is closing. Developers around the world enjoy tax breaks from their governments, fuelling the industry and bringing more money into their country, yet we seem perfectly happy to drive our developers elsewhere. Madness, infuriating madness.
TheLastDodo on 14 Sep '11 said:
Even though I agree with YouStoleMyKill, I'm not going to gloat.
Sad that the studio has to close, I hope the people that worked long and hard on Bodycount find new jobs asap.
Hopefully another studio will pick them up and they're given enough resources to let their creativity flourish elsewhere.
MANYOO4EVA on 14 Sep '11 said:
I haven't played Bodycount and nor do I plan to, but I think Codies should stay to the genre they excel at and that is the driving genre. The Dirt games are great, Grid was excellent, and despite it's flaws F1 2010 was pan wettingly fast, and it loks as though the 2011 version has sorted out the problems.
They should also forget the Op Flashpoint games as well.
Now get working on Race Driver Grid 2, now that F1 2011 is done and dusted, which I might add is a day 1 purchase.
KK-Headcharge78 on 14 Sep '11 said:
Bummer for those who lose their jobs, the game was awful from what I played though, good in a way to see that jumping on the FPS bandwagon ain't all that easy.
KK-Headcharge78 on 14 Sep '11 said:
And I agree with ManYoo, Codies should stick to what they are good at. Like get another GRID out, that game is ace along with F1, Dirt etc. Stay away from shooters as your pedigree in this area is less than average, while not truly awful the last Flashpoint was so buggy, with AI from the dark ages and little to no replay value.
trzarector on 14 Sep '11 said:
Agreed, its a shame that the team are losing jobs never good for anybody!
I have to say that I was highly disappointed with Bodycount after all the years of hype as the spiritual sequel to Black (if I'm not mistaken) turned out to be a dud! Reminded me of a dreamcast era game without the gameplay! Really suprised as Codies standards are usually very high but this failed to hit the mark.
I agree they should stick to racing games its what they excel at!
InsertMoreCredit on 14 Sep '11 said:
So another dev closes its doors.
Guess that's what happens when you develop a mediocre FPS to put along side a industry saturated with mediocre FPS titles.
Madbrit2K5 on 14 Sep '11 said:
While there refocusing projects....bring back Insane! Great game
Or go retro and bring back Dizzy! haha those games drove me mad!
Dam Commodore 64 cassette desk, trying to remember those cassette counters so you could reload the level
JOHNKARA on 14 Sep '11 said:
Sad to hear this......I enjoyed Bodycount despite all the negative sentiments and comments from gamers.....at least they tried to bring a different dimension to the FPS genre......such a shame.
gideonseer on 14 Sep '11 said:
Sorry for the staff, hope they find employment elsewhere.
I remember when Codies did the budget games for the ZX Spectrum, some were tripe and some were brilliant, utterly simplistic but brilliant.
As for Bodycount, I liked the demo, not brilliant, nothing new but not the disaster its made out to be. If I find the full game in a bargain bin somewhere I'll pick it up.
gmcb007 on 14 Sep '11 said:
It seems to be the norm now to shut down when your game dosen't sell and like some of you said above, the UK is the worst place to work as a games developer.
BenThomasFoster on 14 Sep '11 said:
Codemasters stop trying to make FPS's your game engine is obviously not capable of doing it.
DarthBuster22 on 14 Sep '11 said:
understandable after playing the demo... but im glad that there now concentrating on making great racing games like F1, DiRT and GRID, which is what they do best
spinoir on 14 Sep '11 said:
I wouldnt want to get a job in the games buissness these days.....if your game does'nt sell your out of a job. Scarey s**t..
Solm on 14 Sep '11 said:
Yes codemasters should stick to what they know best. Damnation and Turning Point were really bad.
Mmmmgrolsch on 14 Sep '11 said:
Sorry for some of the staff for losing their jobs but what do you expect??
I'm glad BodyCount flopped. Its a disgrace to all gamers in the world. I feel extremely annoyed that devs have the f**king cheek to release such utter garbage for £40!! and hope to rip off a few poor passer bys in the shops that don't read into games.
I'm not blaming the staff as no doubt they weren't given the resources. I'm looking at the publisher and the management. They can go suck dick.
Codemasters need to be banned from publishing FPS's look at Operation flashpoint. People plaid hard earned cash for the one previous and got totally conned into buying a broken game that never got finished.
martinawatson on 14 Sep '11 said:
Stupid move, they cant think of anything that the team can do what a shame, poor management
sonic_uk on 15 Sep '11 said:
Shame. As the only person in the Uk who actually likes Bodycount (because I don't follow the heard and make up my own mind instead of being brainwashed or going along with a few reviewers opinions because its "cool"), I think it is a shame to see some talented people go, especially when Codemasters only decent franchise they have now is F1 after they screwed up the Dirt franchise.
TheLastDodo on 15 Sep '11 said:
I'm sure there are many people, like myself, that didn't like Bodycount because they played the demo and y'know didn't enjoy it, like practically every person I've asked about it that tried the demo, only one person I know enjoyed it and bought the game.
If you like it then good for you, many others didn't, maybe you've got lower standards than other people I don't know but theres nothing "cool" in hating on something that almost everyone else hates anyway.
Don't tar everyone with the same brush.
sonic_uk on 15 Sep '11 said:
Nothing to do with standards. It just seems to me that if a game gets good reviews even people that haven't played it rave about it on the forums and if a game gets bad reviews the same people just go with the flow because its "cool" or the "in thing" to love/hate a particular game because the "reviewers" say so. Some demos are indicative of the final build (Driver SF), others aren't (Bulletstorm) so although they give you an idea they aren't always very reliable. Glad I make up my own mind, because my collection would be half the size it is if I only bought games that got great reviews.
TheLastDodo on 15 Sep '11 said:
You're a hedgehog after my own heart sonic
.
I buy whatever I want, whether it's "cool" or not, doesn't matter if it scores 3/10 or 10/10 (10/10's are usually letdowns to me anyway so I tend not to go for games with ridiculously high scores), you're correct about demos too, I've been down on Bodycount ever since I first saw it but I tried the demo anyway hoping to be proved wrong but it didn't happen, it felt like someone had taken the fun out of Bulletstorm and given it a new name.
But hey, hope you're enjoying Bodycount.
sonic_uk on 16 Sep '11 said:
I'm glad to see there are still some sensible gamers out there mate! Yeah, I think Bodycount doesn't pretend to be another Cod clone or try to be anything its not. Its simple, mindless, blasting fun, the sort of game you can play if you're tired as you don't have to think too much or watch guard patrol patterns while trying to use stealth or anything like that. Its basic, old fashioned fun. Kinda reminds me of an old 16-bit game wrapped up in a modern HD package. It might not be the most impressive or sophisticated game out there but I like it, and I'm glad I bought it.
TheCrimsonFenix on 16 Sep '11 said:
I have to ask, what's your opinion on the crosshair position? I could have enjoyed it if it had something to hook me but with the exception of the different ammunition you can use, there was little else that had me interested personally. At a push I guess I could have enjoyed it for what it was but that crosshair just kills it for me. Haven't liked it's position since Bungie did it with Halo 2.
sonic_uk on 17 Sep '11 said:
I never had a problem with the crosshair myself, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with it tbh. Ive read reports its "too low down" but I haven't had any trouble at all.
TheCrimsonFenix on 17 Sep '11 said:
Probably just a few people complaining like me then. With it I feel as though I'm leaning uncomfortably back to get headshots.
sonic_uk on 18 Sep '11 said:
It could be lower than usual, but I didn't notice it myself mate. Fps are my favourite genre, I have played many and each have their little quirks, so I guess I've just became accustomed to different povs, crosshair positions etc.