Factor 5 shuts down US operations
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ May 14th 2009 at 1:15PM }
The bright side on this really dark tale is that Achim Moller, CEO of Factor 5 Germany, states the company has "partnered with both old and new friends in the industry who will reveal our upcoming projects over the next months." With E3 visible in the smog-filled distance, perhaps we'll learn what the German-based developer is up to soon.
[Via Kotaku, Siliconera]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Storm Eagle @ May 14th 2009 1:22PM
I hope Factor 5 makes a strong comeback. Yeah Lair sucked big time, but I'll always have fond memories of Star Wars Rogue Leader on Gamecube.
Balloonfighter99 @ May 14th 2009 1:26PM
blah blah blah economy blah blah great studio blah good luck guys.
DBuck_Eye @ May 14th 2009 5:14PM
Go blah blah blah yourself.
mr nimblewick @ May 14th 2009 1:32PM
That's a shame.
Balloonfighter99 @ May 14th 2009 1:36PM
I do care about this, I love Factor 5. I'm thinking some companies may be bigger than they should be. Maybe in a weird way these closings will be a blessing for the future and we will have smaller studios with more focused creations.
ecco6t9 @ May 14th 2009 1:41PM
Based on their recent "works" no major loss.
Massmass @ May 14th 2009 4:46PM
I agree. If they didn't do justice for the Star Wars series, VERY briefly, people wouldn't be down voting you so much.
Turrican wasn't so bad either, but come on people. Lair was released about 1 1/2 years ago and it's been 5 1/2 years since the last Rogue game.
Is it any wonder that they failed with such a small portfolio?
John Z @ May 14th 2009 1:46PM
As always I offer my hopes that the developers who lost their jobs in this situation find new ones soon. However...
...really, there's no excuse for this. Factor 5 made their name with the technologies they used to squeeze every last ounce of power out of the N64. When Lair flopped, that should have been a not-so-subtle clue that their strengths lay almost exclusively in making "middleware engine" not a dirty phrase. The Superman project was probably their attempt to do exactly that, but they also made the mistake of trusting Brash. The Kid Icarus project, though it probably would have been technically spectacular, was probably kept mum out of embarassment (hoping to avoid accusations, warranted or not, of "crawled back" to Nintendo). They needed to make Lair a big, beautiful, powerful tech demo showcase for an engine they could license out. It kind of wasn't.
The coders at F5 can and should stress their ability to go above and beyond technical hardware limitations when tidying up their resumes. I wish them the best of luck, and I hope to hear some of them decide to open up a new studio or two.
ben @ May 14th 2009 1:52PM
that's too bad. the first two Rogue Squadron games remain my favorite Star Wars games available. Factor Five always had a way of producing some of the best looking games on a system
Vespene @ May 14th 2009 1:52PM
More Rogue Squadron?
ScottG13 @ May 14th 2009 1:54PM
I wonder if they wouldn't have had to shutdown if there were no motion controls in Lair.
Creepy...
ComicShaman @ May 14th 2009 2:27PM
Lair's problems went beyond the motion control issue, though it certainly would've helped if they had not been so stubborn about leaving Sixaxis steering as the only control option. They eventually relented in this hardline stance, but by that time it was too little, too late.
Lair was a risk. Factor 5 has an impressive pedigree, but they went out on a limb with Lair in a lot of ways. It's unfortunate that it was a risk that did not pay off for them.
ScottG13 @ May 14th 2009 2:30PM
I actually would like to go back and try it again with stick controls. I love flying shooters, but the Six-Axis was just obnoxious. Did Sony force it? We might never know.
waves @ May 14th 2009 2:00PM
It's a good thing that the PS3 has had so many good exclusives lately. After Lair and Haze, it could have easily gained the reputation of a studio killer.
j.howlett @ May 14th 2009 2:07PM
will i ever get my lair dragon trophies?
J8675309 @ May 14th 2009 2:45PM
They should have done a Rogue Squadron on the 360 with massive MP deathmatches and called it a day.
Stupid Lair.
Mr Khan @ May 14th 2009 3:53PM
So long as it doesn't impact the two Wii projects (one of which is heavily hinted at to be Pilotwings), i don't really care.
Though it is sad to see their original studio go, the studio that gave us Rogue Squadron 2 & 3 (the flight missions in 3 were superb, making up for the awkward ground missions)
WRYYYYYY @ May 14th 2009 4:04PM
New rogue squadron new rogue squadron new rogue squadron new rogue squadron
mikecjenkins @ May 14th 2009 4:17PM
N64 was a long time ago. This generation they were good for cranking out awful games and awful comments about how much more powerful the PS3 is than the 360.
They won't be missed by me.
Massmass @ May 14th 2009 4:51PM
They only released one game THIS generation, which was LAIR.
motang @ May 15th 2009 8:53AM
Some people might be mad at me for saying this but I think they should have stayed as second party to Nintendo.
chaos123x @ May 15th 2009 4:33PM
Man they had some great graphics in the games they used to make.
To bad they were always felt slow no matter if you were a X-Wing fighter or a Dragon it still felt like driving a hot air balloon.
The mission based levels were a pain in the ass too.
They should of played StarFox 64 over and over again to get the gameplay right.
oh well.