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feisar · 11-02-2003, 05:10 AM

mucky foot, another high profile UK games company has collapsed and closed its doors on Thursday. Despite the low sales of Startopia and Urban Chaos the closure was unexpected, the company had only recently expanded and set up a second studio, had released the profitable Blade 2 for activision and were under contract to produce a bulletproof monk game for empire interactive. Because of the critical praise and high profile from their past games they were an attractive option for getting contracts from publishers, the only reason Startopia failed was the complete lack of promotion from eidos.

there are rumours of the muck foot staff setting up a new studio in argentina and they are apparently being head hunted by lionhead studios...

over the last year we've lost:

Lost Toys (Moho, Battle Engine Aquilla)
Kaboom (Rollcage, Dogs Of War, Conflict Desert Storm)
Runecraft (mucho licenced stuff)
Crawfish (GBA stuff like SFA3 & Ecks Vs Sever)
Hotgen (Rally Championship PSX, Eggomania)
IG (Fifa 2002/2003, Sim Isle, Pro 18 Golf)
Red Lemon (Roswell Conspiracies)
Rage (Striker, Rocky, GTC Africa, War Of The Worlds)
Computer Artworks (Evolva, The Thing)
Mucky Foot (Urban Chaos, Startopia, Blade 2)
Microprose UK (Grand Prix series)
Particle Systems (PC stuff)

But is this the slow collapse of an industry that blossomed in the 80's with the spectrum, a death and rebirth cycle, or the games industry growing up - weeding out and consolidation?

I think its a bit of all of that, a lot of the companies which closed did so for obvious reasons.. like poor management (companies from the 80's that started as bedroom operations are mostly headed by unqualified creative types), over-expansion or going for short rather than long term decisions...

Companies are taking big risks to adanvace to another level and for some its working. SCi, Criterion, Babel, Climax, Evolution, Travellers Tales, Eurocom and Empire being cases of this..

11-02-2003, 05:10 AM	#1
feisar Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Sussex, UK Posts: 216	crisis or consolidation? mucky foot, another high profile UK games company has collapsed and closed its doors on Thursday. Despite the low sales of Startopia and Urban Chaos the closure was unexpected, the company had only recently expanded and set up a second studio, had released the profitable Blade 2 for activision and were under contract to produce a bulletproof monk game for empire interactive. Because of the critical praise and high profile from their past games they were an attractive option for getting contracts from publishers, the only reason Startopia failed was the complete lack of promotion from eidos. there are rumours of the muck foot staff setting up a new studio in argentina and they are apparently being head hunted by lionhead studios... over the last year we've lost: Lost Toys (Moho, Battle Engine Aquilla) Kaboom (Rollcage, Dogs Of War, Conflict Desert Storm) Runecraft (mucho licenced stuff) Crawfish (GBA stuff like SFA3 & Ecks Vs Sever) Hotgen (Rally Championship PSX, Eggomania) IG (Fifa 2002/2003, Sim Isle, Pro 18 Golf) Red Lemon (Roswell Conspiracies) Rage (Striker, Rocky, GTC Africa, War Of The Worlds) Computer Artworks (Evolva, The Thing) Mucky Foot (Urban Chaos, Startopia, Blade 2) Microprose UK (Grand Prix series) Particle Systems (PC stuff) But is this the slow collapse of an industry that blossomed in the 80's with the spectrum, a death and rebirth cycle, or the games industry growing up - weeding out and consolidation? I think its a bit of all of that, a lot of the companies which closed did so for obvious reasons.. like poor management (companies from the 80's that started as bedroom operations are mostly headed by unqualified creative types), over-expansion or going for short rather than long term decisions... Companies are taking big risks to adanvace to another level and for some its working. SCi, Criterion, Babel, Climax, Evolution, Travellers Tales, Eurocom and Empire being cases of this..