oh how the mighty have fallen welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be taking
a look back at 10 amazing developers in
the gaming industry that were
unfortunately offed by their publishers
before we begin we publish new videos
every day
so be sure to subscribe for more great
content for this list we’ll be taking a
look at game developers that were shut
down by their publishers and parents
companies to qualify the organization
must have had all of its internal
development shut down companies that
were merged but had their main branch
closed or just ceased development of all
their respective games are applicable
number 10 runic games
one of the more recent deaths to be axed
brunette games is well known for their
torch light series bringing together
major talent from X Blizzard developers
the torch light series started as an
homage to the a blow before gaining
enough ground to become a separate
entity with Ford light to Rubik last
game before closure was ha and while it
didn’t sell as well as their Brian ship
series it wasn’t the reason for their
closure like many publishers today
Perfect World Entertainment closed down
runic games in order to sell games as a
service AKA monetization and
microtransactions aren’t you happy
number nine core design while Crystal
Dynamics has certainly helped to
reinvent the Tomb Raider series we can’t
forget the classics core design started
out making small mediocre titles before
finding success in the Tomb Raider
franchise unfortunately after the poor
sales and critical reception of Angel of
Darkness core designs fate was basically
sealed working on only one other title
the studio saw ownership shifted to
rebellion developments where it remained
for five years without a single game
developed before eventually being
completely shut down you’ll have ready
number eight mythic entertainment a
journey to the distant shores of Avalon
a vast world awaits going back to the
late 90s and early 2000s multiplayer
games were starting to rise up in the
industry especially mmo’s considered to
be one of the granddaddy’s of MMOs
mythix long list of contributions to the
genre helped to shape many titles we
play today from their first game
Dragon’s Gate to the massive hit that
was Dark Age of Camelot mythic basically
had it made
despite releasing well-received MMOs the
studio was wound down by EA over time
until their final game was the infamous
Dungeon Keeper reboot
number 7 bullfrog productions the
creators behind the original Dungeon
Keeper bullfrog productions was praised
for their strategy and God simulator
games spearheaded by none other than
Peter Molyneux the studio is considered
to be the founder of the God game genre
with games that gave players near
unlimited power and control over the
environment and if denizens working with
EA during their early years they became
a subsidiary in 1993 officially making
games exclusively for EA if only they
knew what was coming
while estudio grew so did a J’s list of
desired games and the quality soon fell
Electronic Arts have slowly began to
merge the studio with EA UK until
finally closing it down in 2001
[Music]
number six pandemic studios
pandemic studios knew how to make fun
games that offer an hours of
entertainment and without progression
systems to boot the creators behind the
original Star Wars Battlefront series
they are still hailed as the creators of
one of the ultimate Star Wars gaming
experiences beyond their Star Wars games
though fans of the studio will also
recognize fun titles like D Destroy All
Humans and mercenary series bought by EA
in 2007 they only lasted two more years
before being terminated the few games
they did work on under EA received poor
sales and while they were indeed
inventive poor sales are never something
you want to have when you’re working
under Electronic Arts now it’s no
darling that now may he finds peace in
the next world
number 5 Lionhead Studios
[Applause]
taking his creative ideas elsewhere
after his time at bullfrog Peter
Molyneux started up another studio while
they first began with spiritual
successors to populous it was the
European fantasy fable series that
brought Lionhead Studios to the
forefront finding a publisher in
Microsoft Game Studios why it heads
fateful series continued to grow despite
Peters habit of promising features he
couldn’t deliver after four years since
a proper fable title
Lionhead showed off fable legends with
unique and interesting features that had
never been seen before
unfortunately fable legends just
couldn’t seem to find the same audience
as this last one the game was canceled
and the studio shut out by Microsoft
[Music]
number four Maxis Emeryville studio it
might end up being better the more
cities you have in an actual region but
it seems to be completely possible to
make a lucrative casino town just as
your first city if a silly simulation of
life is what you were looking for
then Maxis was your studio creators of
the renowned Sims and SimCity series
Maxis was considered a pro at creating
games where you could escape the humdrum
daily life in favor of one with more
direct control something that Maxis
founder Will Wright seemed to lack the
more time his company spent with EA the
last nail in the coffin came from the
reboot of SimCity and the mediocre
launch of Sims 4 in 2015 soon after
axises main studio closed taking all
other studios and putting them on
various projects while merging them with
other EA subsidiaries
[Music]
number three Westwood Studios realtime
strategy games weren’t anything new at
the time of Westwood Studios flagship
commanded conquer series but that didn’t
stop them from helping to bring the
genre into a brighter spotlight before
it even that series took off though
Westwood would shape the landscape of
RTS games to come with their dune series
especially due to with developers and
critics citing the titles as the true
beginning of an era for RTS games
despite their legendary status in the
RTS market the last commanding conquer
game did not impress audiences or the
sales team at EA essentially signing the
studio’s death number to Visceral Games
I’m sorry I’m sorry about everything
oh boy the boys and Electronic Arts
drove a track record a visceral games
was unfortunately the latest in EA’s
long line of closed Studios known first
as EA redwood it was when dead space
came into play that they rebranded as
visceral critics and audiences praised
the first two entries for creating a
successful action horror game
unfortunately with the publishers
meddling hands in Dead Space 3 this rule
began to wind down becoming another
subsidiary that worked on other people’s
series given the chance to make a Star
Wars game they went with a linear story
driven experience and to basically no
one surprise EA butted heads with them
until they ultimately decided to shut
down both the project and visceral games
itself
number one LucasArts
let’s see how you feel about that after
you get a thousand levels down adapting
one of the greatest sci-fi movies into
videogames is only one of the many
accomplishments of LucasArts acting as
both the developer and publisher
LucasArts also worked on many adventure
games including The Monkey Island series
and Sam & Max hit the road their
contribution to both adventure games and
the Star Wars series is legendary rather
was legendary after being acquired by
Disney all current games like Star Wars
1313 under the LucasArts brand were
canceled and the rights handed over to
you guessed it Electronic Arts
given that Studios handling of the Star
Wars Battlefront series as of late this
does not bode well for the future of the
Star Wars franchise LucasArts might not
actually be officially closed but
they’re nothing but a shell of their
former selves
[Music]
how to deal with frustration
disappointment an irritating cynicism do
you agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from watch mojo and
subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be taking
a look back at 10 amazing developers in
the gaming industry that were
unfortunately offed by their publishers
before we begin we publish new videos
every day
so be sure to subscribe for more great
content for this list we’ll be taking a
look at game developers that were shut
down by their publishers and parents
companies to qualify the organization
must have had all of its internal
development shut down companies that
were merged but had their main branch
closed or just ceased development of all
their respective games are applicable
number 10 runic games
one of the more recent deaths to be axed
brunette games is well known for their
torch light series bringing together
major talent from X Blizzard developers
the torch light series started as an
homage to the a blow before gaining
enough ground to become a separate
entity with Ford light to Rubik last
game before closure was ha and while it
didn’t sell as well as their Brian ship
series it wasn’t the reason for their
closure like many publishers today
Perfect World Entertainment closed down
runic games in order to sell games as a
service AKA monetization and
microtransactions aren’t you happy
number nine core design while Crystal
Dynamics has certainly helped to
reinvent the Tomb Raider series we can’t
forget the classics core design started
out making small mediocre titles before
finding success in the Tomb Raider
franchise unfortunately after the poor
sales and critical reception of Angel of
Darkness core designs fate was basically
sealed working on only one other title
the studio saw ownership shifted to
rebellion developments where it remained
for five years without a single game
developed before eventually being
completely shut down you’ll have ready
number eight mythic entertainment a
journey to the distant shores of Avalon
a vast world awaits going back to the
late 90s and early 2000s multiplayer
games were starting to rise up in the
industry especially mmo’s considered to
be one of the granddaddy’s of MMOs
mythix long list of contributions to the
genre helped to shape many titles we
play today from their first game
Dragon’s Gate to the massive hit that
was Dark Age of Camelot mythic basically
had it made
despite releasing well-received MMOs the
studio was wound down by EA over time
until their final game was the infamous
Dungeon Keeper reboot
number 7 bullfrog productions the
creators behind the original Dungeon
Keeper bullfrog productions was praised
for their strategy and God simulator
games spearheaded by none other than
Peter Molyneux the studio is considered
to be the founder of the God game genre
with games that gave players near
unlimited power and control over the
environment and if denizens working with
EA during their early years they became
a subsidiary in 1993 officially making
games exclusively for EA if only they
knew what was coming
while estudio grew so did a J’s list of
desired games and the quality soon fell
Electronic Arts have slowly began to
merge the studio with EA UK until
finally closing it down in 2001
[Music]
number six pandemic studios
pandemic studios knew how to make fun
games that offer an hours of
entertainment and without progression
systems to boot the creators behind the
original Star Wars Battlefront series
they are still hailed as the creators of
one of the ultimate Star Wars gaming
experiences beyond their Star Wars games
though fans of the studio will also
recognize fun titles like D Destroy All
Humans and mercenary series bought by EA
in 2007 they only lasted two more years
before being terminated the few games
they did work on under EA received poor
sales and while they were indeed
inventive poor sales are never something
you want to have when you’re working
under Electronic Arts now it’s no
darling that now may he finds peace in
the next world
number 5 Lionhead Studios
[Applause]
taking his creative ideas elsewhere
after his time at bullfrog Peter
Molyneux started up another studio while
they first began with spiritual
successors to populous it was the
European fantasy fable series that
brought Lionhead Studios to the
forefront finding a publisher in
Microsoft Game Studios why it heads
fateful series continued to grow despite
Peters habit of promising features he
couldn’t deliver after four years since
a proper fable title
Lionhead showed off fable legends with
unique and interesting features that had
never been seen before
unfortunately fable legends just
couldn’t seem to find the same audience
as this last one the game was canceled
and the studio shut out by Microsoft
[Music]
number four Maxis Emeryville studio it
might end up being better the more
cities you have in an actual region but
it seems to be completely possible to
make a lucrative casino town just as
your first city if a silly simulation of
life is what you were looking for
then Maxis was your studio creators of
the renowned Sims and SimCity series
Maxis was considered a pro at creating
games where you could escape the humdrum
daily life in favor of one with more
direct control something that Maxis
founder Will Wright seemed to lack the
more time his company spent with EA the
last nail in the coffin came from the
reboot of SimCity and the mediocre
launch of Sims 4 in 2015 soon after
axises main studio closed taking all
other studios and putting them on
various projects while merging them with
other EA subsidiaries
[Music]
number three Westwood Studios realtime
strategy games weren’t anything new at
the time of Westwood Studios flagship
commanded conquer series but that didn’t
stop them from helping to bring the
genre into a brighter spotlight before
it even that series took off though
Westwood would shape the landscape of
RTS games to come with their dune series
especially due to with developers and
critics citing the titles as the true
beginning of an era for RTS games
despite their legendary status in the
RTS market the last commanding conquer
game did not impress audiences or the
sales team at EA essentially signing the
studio’s death number to Visceral Games
I’m sorry I’m sorry about everything
oh boy the boys and Electronic Arts
drove a track record a visceral games
was unfortunately the latest in EA’s
long line of closed Studios known first
as EA redwood it was when dead space
came into play that they rebranded as
visceral critics and audiences praised
the first two entries for creating a
successful action horror game
unfortunately with the publishers
meddling hands in Dead Space 3 this rule
began to wind down becoming another
subsidiary that worked on other people’s
series given the chance to make a Star
Wars game they went with a linear story
driven experience and to basically no
one surprise EA butted heads with them
until they ultimately decided to shut
down both the project and visceral games
itself
number one LucasArts
let’s see how you feel about that after
you get a thousand levels down adapting
one of the greatest sci-fi movies into
videogames is only one of the many
accomplishments of LucasArts acting as
both the developer and publisher
LucasArts also worked on many adventure
games including The Monkey Island series
and Sam & Max hit the road their
contribution to both adventure games and
the Star Wars series is legendary rather
was legendary after being acquired by
Disney all current games like Star Wars
1313 under the LucasArts brand were
canceled and the rights handed over to
you guessed it Electronic Arts
given that Studios handling of the Star
Wars Battlefront series as of late this
does not bode well for the future of the
Star Wars franchise LucasArts might not
actually be officially closed but
they’re nothing but a shell of their
former selves
[Music]
how to deal with frustration
disappointment an irritating cynicism do
you agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from watch mojo and
subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
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