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Sony Closes WipEout Developer Studio Liverpool

Posted by Unknown on from the who-needs-launch-titles dept.

RogueyWon writes "Eurogamer is reporting that Sony has closed its subsidiary developer Studio Liverpool. Beginning its life in 1984 under the name Psygnosis, the development house has played an important role in the history of computer and video gaming, publishing classics such as the Lemmings series. Since its acquisition by Sony in 1993, the studio has been best known for its work on the WipEout franchise, which helped to establish the PlayStation console as a successful brand. Sony's statements indicate that it will seek to find positions for staff in its other development houses, but that some redundancies will be necessary." Eurogamer posted an update, indicating that the studio was working on WipEout for the PS4.

19 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Sony and Lemmings by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Lemmings" seems appropriate when you think about Sony executives.

  2. "Since its acquisition by Sony" by sqldr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since its acquisition by Sony

    Well that's where they went wrong. Whenever these things happen, developers leave in droves anyway and start new development houses, until they're bought again. Most game developers have some sort of idea for a game, and this is usually how it happens.

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    1. Re:"Since its acquisition by Sony" by Desler · · Score: 2

      Except developers didn't leave in droves when it was acquired nearly 20 years ago.

    2. Re:"Since its acquisition by Sony" by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

      20 years ago getting bought up did not mean you would be doing sequels until they shut you down.

    3. Re:"Since its acquisition by Sony" by Hatta · · Score: 2

      I would *love* to see more sequels of more Psygnosis stuff.

      Why no 3d rendered Lemmings? It was the best selling video game ever at the time, let's revisit it. It will work great on tablets too!

      Why not another Colony Wars? 3 of them on the PSX and then nothing.

      Why not another cinematic adventure along the lines of Shadow of the Beast? Why let Quantic Dream and Team ICO have all the fun?

      Why not another Destruction Derby game? Wouldn't that be great on the PS3?

      There's a ton of old Psygnosis stuff that could be brought back and received very well by current gamers. But I guess Sony doesn't like money or something.

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  3. Re:No by Hatta · · Score: 2

    It was, but it's not anymore.

    How much of the original Psygnosis was left anyway? I know they were awesome in the 80s and later in the PSX days. But I wasn't aware of them doing anything in the past decade. Were any of the original people still around?

    I guess this kind of puts a damper on any hopes for another Colony Wars. Damn.

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  4. RIP Psygnosis by logicassasin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Shadow of the Beast, The Killing Game Show, and Awesome were my favorite Atari ST and Amiga games ever. Stunning graphics (for the time), unparallelled music, great game play out of their games. RIP to the greatest studio of my youth. ... BTW, has anyone ever completed Shadow of the Beast 2 WITHOUT using the "ten pints" cheat?

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    1. Re:RIP Psygnosis by crgrace · · Score: 2

      Wow I played those games so much on my Amiga.... except for Awesome, since it was not compatible with the 512kB memory upgrade for the A500. Grrr! I played Awesome at Winners Circle Systems in Berkeley, CA and bought it, but had to return it when it didn't work at home. This is the kind of thing that very much upsets a 15 year old boy haha.

      But, I probably spent more time playing the Killing Game Show than I want to admit.

      Remember how hard those games were? It really took commitment to make it far (especially in Shadow of the Beast). Seemed later NES and Playstation games were much easier for the most part (in my opinion).

      The graphics and sound of Shadow of the Beast were so amazingly ahead of its time. They used to have the intro movie on repeat at Whole Earth Access in Berkeley to attract potential buyers to their Amigas.

      Lastly, remember the awesome package art on those games? They used the same artist who did those iconic album covers for Yes.

    2. Re:RIP Psygnosis by tedgyz · · Score: 2

      "Shadow of the Beast" has great game play? You're kidding, right? If great game play means ripping your hair out, wailing, and gnashing your teeth, then yes. It was indeed the coolest game of the time (I played on the Amiga 2000) with mutli-plane parallax scrolling and amazing music. The dark underbelly was the cruel restart from the beginning after dying. If a game transitions from fun to torture is it still a game? I still have emotional scars from that beast.

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    3. Re:RIP Psygnosis by Dogtanian · · Score: 2, Informative

      grab an Amiga emulator, the roms for the three games I mentioned and play them (also include Shadow of the Beast 2 and 3). Come back and let us know if you still believe this.

      The problem with asking someone to do this is that if you weren't there at the time (as I assume the OP wasn't), you probably wouldn't get how technically impressive such games were. Even people like me who came to the Amiga later on were spoiled by the increase in standards that those earlier games forced. For example, I recently saw a video of Xenon 2, a game I remember hearing described as technically brilliant when I had my Amiga but never actually saw then. I really wasn't that impressed- the graphics were good for the time, but the music was no better than countless tracker modules and the chrome effect title page lettering? Meh.

      I do remember seeing (and hearing!) an Amiga on TV circa 1986 and being blown away by its sampled sound, but most of my expectations were formed at a baseline circa 1991/92.

      If you never even played an Amiga at the time it was current, let alone having played the games in question back then rather than 20 years on, it's going to be impossible to really *feel* how they would have blown people away at the time.

      Also, I've never played Shadow of the Beast, but I've heard that it was notoriously difficult.

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  5. Psygnosis are gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh no! *BOOM*

  6. Psygnosis. by Moskit · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not Psygonis or Psygnonis.

    Please shows some respect and check spelling of last names and company names at the very least. Basic Editor skillz, rigot?

  7. Psygnosis... :'( by euxneks · · Score: 2

    Psygnosis deserves much more than this. Shadow of the Beast, WipEout, Lemmings. These are all iconic games which I remember VIVIDLY, much more than most other games. Sad day indeed. :'(

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  8. What an important part of my early life they were by crgrace · · Score: 2

    I have wonderful memories from high school of playing Shadow of the Beast for hours while listening to the Pet Shop Boys on autoreverse.... does that date me much?

    It was amazing that such a frustrating game could hold my attention for so long, but it did. I highly recommend trying it out in an emulator if you have a chance. It was so, so far ahead of its time.

  9. Re:"Some redundancies will be necessary" by jareth-0205 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Some redundancies will be necessary"

    You mean, those redundancies will be deemed unnecessary, and therefore eliminated. Hate to be a wording nazi, but that's bad.

    This is a UK-ism... a 'redundancy' is a job that has been made redundant, and therefore terminated. It's a common phrase here.

  10. I remember it in its heyday by snap2grid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Which for my purposes was the early 90s. DMA Design (the developer of Lemmings, Hired Guns) had a not always amiable relationship with Psygnosis, who was our publisher at the start. I visited it only a couple of times, but it always felt like an important place, like going to visit the emperor. Best memories were of the largest, tastiest pizza I'd ever had and of being crammed into the back of Ian Hetherington's Porche as a bunch of us were taken out for a meal. So, sad day.

  11. I always appreciated thier use of Roger Dean art by Picass0 · · Score: 2

    The Dean Brothers and Hipgnosis produced some of the most iconic album cover art of the late 60's and 70's. Roger Dean brought his trippy style to game covers like "Shadow of the Beast" and early Pygnosis titles.

    Great games complimented by great art design.

    I dug Wip3out too.

    Sorry to see the studio axed.

  12. Re:WipEout by BenJury · · Score: 2

    I don't think closing this particular studio will stop Sony from milking that particular cash cow...

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  13. Wipeout by petsounds · · Score: 2

    RIP Psygnosis.

    Wipeout and Wipeout 2097/XL was a groundbreaking title on the first PlayStation. Its stunning graphics and stellar soundtrack were way beyond what others were doing at that time. And the gameplay was dialed-in perfection. None of the followup Wipeout games I've played really matched up to it.

    I worked with Sony back then, and I heard a lot of rumors through the grapevine about Psygnosis being arrogant and difficult to work with. This culminated in Sony completely swallowing them up so they could control the studio better. Well, many talented chaps left as they are wont to do, and it's been a slow-motion death for them ever since.