Activision closes Underground Development studio

by Scott Jon Siegel { Apr 21st 2008 at 3:15PM }

It appears that one member of the Activision family has been disowned. GamesIndustry.biz reports that Activision will be closing Underground Development, its development studio in Foster City, California. The studio currently holds 45 employees, whom Activision is currently trying to relocate to other studios.

Underground -- formerly known as Z-Axis -- was acquired by Activision back in 2002, and was renamed to Underground just last month. The studio worked on the Dave Mirra BMX series, the Aggressive Inline series, and was notably the developer of the shudder-inducing BMX XXX. Most recently, the studio completed work on X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and the port of Enemy Territories: Quake Wars for the Playstation 3, due out in May.

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, underground, underground-development, z-axis

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

baby sea tuna @ Apr 21st 2008 3:21PM

BMX:XXX?! Um...yeah. Underground, you will certainly be missed.

Yeah.

Lone Starr @ Apr 21st 2008 3:24PM

I would be embarassed to have BMX XXX on my resume, although it could be a backdoor into the porno industry.

FOXHOUND @ Apr 21st 2008 3:35PM

+1

ha ha... back door!

makishima @ Apr 21st 2008 3:36PM

"backdoor into the porno industry" +1 even if it was not intentional :)

PojoMofo @ Apr 21st 2008 3:38PM

-1 for salad tossing references

PojoMofo @ Apr 21st 2008 3:38PM

-1 for salad tossing references

sicsided @ Apr 21st 2008 3:41PM

nice mate haha +1

and pojomojo, i think you need to brush up on the kamasutra.

PojoMofo @ Apr 21st 2008 3:45PM

If it involves salad tossing, no thanks

PojoMofo @ Apr 21st 2008 3:45PM

If it involves salad tossing, no thanks

DangerMouse @ Apr 21st 2008 3:48PM

^Got it the first time, thanks.

:-p

PojoMofo @ Apr 21st 2008 4:34PM

LMAO, I have no idea what is up with the double posting

FOXHOUND @ Apr 21st 2008 3:24PM

Of all the games listed, AGGRESSIVE INLINE was the only one I bothered with(and enjoyed).

Mr.ESC @ Apr 21st 2008 3:24PM

and the port of Enemy Territories: Quake Wars for the Playstation 3, due out in May.

LMAO.

I hope someone else ports this game.

Dave Mirra games suck anyway.

Matthew @ Apr 21st 2008 3:27PM

So this is the studio who did the port of Quake Wars. After the story of different studios porting it for the 360 and PS3, this doesn't sound great for PS3 owners.

Matt B @ Apr 21st 2008 4:15PM

It will be just another PPU and RSX port with no sniff of any SPE usage. So yes, a sub par port by an obvious sub par team.

ColossalHat @ Apr 21st 2008 3:30PM

"a backdoor into the porno industry."

I hope I'm not the only one who caught the awesomeness of this phrase. You sir deserve a [+].

Rawnzilla @ Apr 21st 2008 3:43PM

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Tim The Enchanter @ Apr 21st 2008 4:28PM

You know, I think originally Activision underestimated the cost of running a studio underground. But most of it's titles should definitely stay underground.

t_m @ Apr 21st 2008 4:31PM

Aggressive inline was good.

I don't understand why publishers are continually closing and opening studios.. it must be horribly inefficient and have a huge administration overhead.

Odds are that half these employees will start new studios, which activision will then buy, which it will then close after 1 game, and the employees will then... ... ...