Another one bites the dust. Prolific British video game developer Eurocom has laid off all staff and ceased making games after 25 years in the business.
Those who actually pay attention to the title cards at the beginning of games know Eurocom was one of the better, more dependable makers of licensed games out there — they were particularly known for producing most of the James Bond games over the past 10 to 15 years. Some, like the recent 007 Legends, were clunkers, but most were damn solid. They also worked behind the scenes on a lot of projects — most console versions of 90s Midway games were actually done by Eurocom. They even, occasionally, got to work on an original project like the well-regarded Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy.
Just more evidence that it’s almost impossible for an independent, freelance development studio to make a go of it these days. Budgets are so high, and publishers are so hung up on Metacritic scores that a single flop like 007 Legends can easily sink a company with over 60 games on its resume.
Here’s a list of everything Eurocom developed. You’ll find at least a couple games you liked on the list, guaranteed. Batman Begins and Dead Space: Extraction are my personal picks.
via Kotaku
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Ok, so I’m an admitted dunce when it comes to the business of how video games get made. Can someone explain how all these companies, especially ones that are actually producing content (unlike Curt Shilling’s group), are going out of business?
As far as I know, most publishers send independent developers like Eurocom payments while they’re making a game, but those payments are basically just enough to keep the lights on and pay rank-and-file salaries while the game is finished. For the developer, actually coming out ahead — making some money so they can move forward — is largely dependent on bonuses, which are usually based on sales and/or Metacritic average.
Now that even middle-of-the-road games like 007 Legends cost at least 10 million to make, a single critical or commercial flop can be the end of the road for a independent developer. Which of course is a vicious cycle — now that publishers are hung up on every even moderately important game scoring an 85 on Metacritic, developers have to pour as much money and resources into each game as possible in order to hit that mark.
Basically the old business model of companies like Eurocom — have your passion projects and things you really try to make good, but also have the games you just crank out for the paycheck, doesn’t work anymore. At least not on consoles. Still works on handhelds and mobile, because those games can be more simple and publishers don’t care about quality on handhelds.
Development costs are astronomical, the games don’t sell for whatever reason and all the smaller studios can’t afford to put multiple irons in the fire so hedge their bets on the latest project. The latest game (007 Legends) bombed at retail, launched the around the same time as the biggest FPS of the year (BLOPS2) and subsequently dragged the studio down with it.
Yep, that’s the long and short of it. Really a downer. The amount of cash required to make an original game has gotten so high; it seems like the only ones who are gonna be left developing AAA games for the top-tier consoles are gonna be EA and Activision, who can make relatively inexpensive games by reusing their own engines and other assets again and again, and still somehow convince 10 million people to pay for it every time. I kind of think Nintendo’s way of “lagging behind” technologically would probably be a healthier way for the entire industry to live, waiting for development to become more cost-effective as the technology depreciates. Although I don’t know if it’s actually true that, say, Skyward Sword cost less to develop than your Uncharteds or Halo 4s.
FYI, the way you used the word “hedge” is the opposite of what it actually means.
I think Skyward used the same engine as Mario Galaxy so really only the new assets were paid for.
I’ve thought that about Nintendo for a while, it’s a very canny strategy they’ve positioned themselves well and I think we’re about to see it pay dividends. Developers seem at the point were the cost of doing a 360 or nextbox game would cost the same as doing 2 Wii/Wiiu games… They can hedge their bets!!!
Thanks for the correction! I fear – embarrassingly, I’ve been using it wrongly for years.
Only ever owned one of their games — DS Extraction, which I enjoyed very much — though I played a couple of their N64 ports. Still a big bummer whenever another one bites the dust. There seem to have been some pretty serious missteps with 007 Legends. But I do plan to eventually buy Goldeneye — either the Wii or PS3 version, not sure yet. Too little too late, but yeah.
The new Goldeneye was actually a lot of fun, particularly if you’ve even found yourself lamenting the lack of splitscreen shooters these days.
They where developing Harry Potter for Kinect, if Legends didn’t kill them that certainly would have
Man, I actually enjoyed “Chaos Bleeds”, their Buffy game. Not a classic but a fun little brawler.