Stormfront Studios shutting down

by Scott Jon Siegel { Apr 1st 2008 at 10:00PM }

Stormfront Studios -- developer of acclaimed titles such as the original Nevewinter Nights, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers -- is reported to be closing down shortly. According to Next-Gen, the closure was announced internally yesterday, and is due to poor business performance.

Stormfront Studios has been in operation since 1988 -- founded under the name Beyond Studios. In 1989 the company created Quantum Space, the first play-by-email computer game, offered through a then-nascent America Online service. Later, the company created Neverwinter Nights, the first graphics-driven massively multiplayer online game, which was honored at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. More recently Stormfront has worked with numerous intellectual properties such as The Spiderwick Chronicles and Eragon.

Stormfront consists of 33 full-time employees, all of whom were informed of the closure on Monday. A representative speaking to Next-Gen cited the current economy, as well as slowed revenue on a current project, as reasons for the closure. Another one bites the dust.

Read - Breaking Report: Stormfront to Shutter Studio [Gamasutra]
Read - Stormfront Studios Closing [Next-Gen]

Tags: breaking-news, breakingnews, stormfront, stormfront-studios

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Vegnagun bwf @ Apr 1st 2008 10:20PM

Happy April Fool's Day, investors! Oops.

Tiptup300 @ Apr 1st 2008 10:50PM

April Fools? I happened to love the two towers.

jynxycat @ Apr 1st 2008 11:19PM

One of the first pieces of software I ever 'pirated'.

Just basically made my own dungeons that had maybe 3 or 4 quests, all which culminated into a huge battle with those zombie dragon guys, and the mobs levels weren't adjusted to the player at all.

Ah, being young.

Virtuous @ Apr 1st 2008 11:26PM

Baseball fans will remember Stormfront for Earl Weaver Baseball and Tony La Russa Baseball.

LeonSKennedy @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:12AM

I'm glad you mentioned this. Tony LaRussa Baseball was the first thing that came to my mind when reading the headline. I was so obsessed with that game at the time (1991) that I created the entire current day rosters for my favorite teams and would use those teams to play against the all-time classic teams (1927 Yanks, 1975 Reds; etc.). No wonder I got my butt kicked! LOL

VoLiTioN @ Apr 1st 2008 11:34PM

Anyone here play the Eragon game based of the movie that was based of the book?

I'm not surprised they're finished.

Kizzle @ Apr 2nd 2008 12:07AM

What game is that? Looks like it's from the Pool of Radiance / Curse of the Azure Bonds / Secret of the Silver Blades series. I played through all of those, my first PC gaming experience.

Arturis @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:04AM

The game pictured is the original Neverwinter Nights, which was a multiplayer online RPG based off the classic SSI Silver and Gold Box games you mentioned. It was available for play over the America Online service (back before they officially rebranded themselves as the abbreviated AOL) for an additional monthly fee.