Idol Minds, known best for the PS3 downloadable game PAIN, has laid off more than half of its staff, according to a report by Kotaku. The original team of 46 has been reduced to a mere 20 through a series of layoffs, the latest of which affected seventeen developers.
Kotaku's sources point to budget cuts from long-time publishing partner Sony Computer Entertainment. However, it's hard to ignore the irony of the team's namesake: other than a few expansion packs to PAIN, no major releases or game announcements have come out of the studio since 2007. What this means for the future of the PAIN franchise is unclear for now. Calls to both Idol Minds and SCEA were not returned.
Reader Comments (28)
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:07PM DeepFriedSushi said
with past experience its relatively easy to get future employment.
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:05PM mywhitenoise said
What does physics have to do with anything? They used the Havok engine, the same one that's used in Motorstorm and other games.
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:09PM DeepFriedSushi said
its probably because of the difficulty of ps3 development. also they may have expanded too quickly since they had sony as their publisher.
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:04PM mywhitenoise said
Pain was the biggest waste of $10 I ever spent...actually it was a christmas gift, but still, that $10 could have bought something a lot better.
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:15PM DeepFriedSushi said
ya it probably would have but pain is just terrible
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 6:25PM Phawx said
Sony Defense Force, please try to understand that this wasn't an attack on your system, but rather that PSN doesn't provide a better way to ascertain the how good a game is with a trial mode.
Also, if the 360 controller had an accelerometer in it, I am almost positive it would have sold better on XBLA, because of the sole fact we can try games before we buy them. Watching a video of Flower on PSN as the only means to motivate me to buy it, mean nothing. Because if you came into Flower with knowing *nothing* about it and watched the video of Flower on PSN, you would think that you only saw the trailer.
So if you were wondering if the 360 could first support Flower with an accelerometer and second was available on the 360. I would bet money it would sell better on 360 for the sheer fact that people could *try* before they buy. And realize that Flower is a really interesting *good* game.
Reply
Also, if the 360 controller had an accelerometer in it, I am almost positive it would have sold better on XBLA, because of the sole fact we can try games before we buy them. Watching a video of Flower on PSN as the only means to motivate me to buy it, mean nothing. Because if you came into Flower with knowing *nothing* about it and watched the video of Flower on PSN, you would think that you only saw the trailer.
So if you were wondering if the 360 could first support Flower with an accelerometer and second was available on the 360. I would bet money it would sell better on 360 for the sheer fact that people could *try* before they buy. And realize that Flower is a really interesting *good* game.
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:48PM UnverifiedUser said
Sooo... half their team got laid off, due to budget cuts, and all they've released in the last couple years are $5 expansions and $1 characters for a 2+ year old game? Maybe they should look into doing more... or possibly a second game this gen.
And, maybe, just maybe... if their minds weren't so idol, they'd make some money and keep people on the payroll. Supporting a game, through DLC, for fans, is one thing... but relying solely upon it for profit and ONLY developing such a thing is pretty dumb.
Reply
And, maybe, just maybe... if their minds weren't so idol, they'd make some money and keep people on the payroll. Supporting a game, through DLC, for fans, is one thing... but relying solely upon it for profit and ONLY developing such a thing is pretty dumb.
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 5:57PM shadowhowl1900 said
this game is like Calling All Cars. Fun (or something new) for the first 3 days and then boring...
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 6:01PM dannydesugmailcom said
Pain led to my nan asking my father what spank the monkey meant. Money well spent.
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 6:37PM (Unverified) said
Maybe they should have made a game or two instead of trying to milk Pain for over two years...
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 6:53PM DWilson8504 said
Pain is awesome and always has been but I agree it's WELL past it's prime. Maybe if they had worked on something else, even a Pain 2 instead of all this DLC stuff, they would still have jobs. Who knows?
Reply
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 7:16PM loflyinjett said
People who think pain isn't worth the $10 dollars in cost to buy it obviously haven't spend enough time with it...It's a pretty deep game if you give it a chance.
Reply
Posted: Oct 22nd 2009 4:09AM lookhappy said
Won't be a big loss.
While Pain is ok - it's too expensive, and how can a company of 46 not turn out anything new or substantial in 2 years! That's just crazy!
If it were down to me I'd sack them outright and put the money I saved towards a massive feast with my friends.
Reply
While Pain is ok - it's too expensive, and how can a company of 46 not turn out anything new or substantial in 2 years! That's just crazy!
If it were down to me I'd sack them outright and put the money I saved towards a massive feast with my friends.
Posted: Oct 22nd 2009 6:14AM JeezWhiz87 said
I don't have pain, never played it, and I'm not dropping $10 on it, but damn that's the funniest gymnasium floor I've ever seen.
Reply
Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.
Featured Stories
The most popular posts
in the last 7 days
- Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 220 comments
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 153 comments
- David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 108 comments
- Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
- Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 93 comments










