Update: We just received a press release from Red 5 Studios announcing the "reorganization," stating the company has "great respect for these departing team members and the contributions they have made." The press release also confirms that Red 5 Studios has taken aid from a new investment partner and is "currently working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game." So much for that ping-pong idea!
Original post: Kotaku is reporting that Red 5 Studios, a studio comprised of some key ex-Blizzard personnel, is the latest to be handed its walking papers. A source claims that nothing but a "skeleton crew" remains at Red 5 Studios now, which at one point had offices in Irvine, CA and Shanghai. The latter recently shut its doors, though the relevant press release on Red 5 Studios' site has since been pulled. Apparently, the Irvine home base was also in danger of shutting its doors, but was bought out last week, spurring these layoffs.
The Kotaku tipster said Red 5 Studios was currently at work on a MMOFPS, a militaristic title built on an Offset Software-developed engine as part of an $18.5 million deal inked with Korean publisher Webzen. Obviously, that game is now on hold, and it's believed the "skeleton crew" that remains has shifted its focus toward working on a product for the Chinese market. Might we suggest a table tennis game? We hear that's all the rage over there.
Reader Comments (8)
Posted: Jan 27th 2010 3:04PM Kid Icarus said
Shame, though I'm sure they'll land on their feet with the talent that was in there.
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Posted: Jan 27th 2010 5:12PM freaparn said
Is there a single "Blizzard-splinter" studio that *has* done well? Serious question, not a flame. Whenever you see it mentioned that some studio is made up of former Blizzard staffers, there's this air of expectation over what they're going to unleash, and then 6-18 months later it's generally problems, shutdowns, layoffs. I'd like to hear slightly more uplifting news about these Blizzardian refugees!
I think Torchlight is the closest thing to a success story I've heard so far, and that game definitely fell under the banner of "you'll love it/hate it".
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I think Torchlight is the closest thing to a success story I've heard so far, and that game definitely fell under the banner of "you'll love it/hate it".
Posted: Jan 27th 2010 9:35PM rchapoteau said
This seems like an intersting/calculated day to do it, when Apple was announcing something major and the president is doing a state of the union. This news just gets buried.
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Posted: Jan 29th 2010 10:22AM (Unverified) said
So Red 5 is, in fact, NOT standing by? YOU LIED TO ME PORKINS!
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