THQ shutters Homefront dev Kaos Studios and THQ Digital Warrington

by Ben Gilbert on Jun 13th 2011 12:16PM

Manhattan-based Kaos Studios -- developers of Frontlines: Fuel of War and Homefront -- has been closed. THQ confirmed the closure to Joystiq this afternoon, noting that the company's UK-based studio, THQ Digital Warrington, has also been closed. The Warrington studio previously worked on Red Faction Battlegrounds and Warhammer 40K: Kill Team. A statement from THQ additionally explains that employees at each studio have been alerted.

Beyond a cursory note about "strategic realignment within its internal studio structure," no other specifics are given as to the why the studios were closed, but its not as though the closure of Kaos Studios was unexpected. In the meantime, Homefront development has been transferred to the company's Montreal studio. THQ states that the laid off employees will be given a chance to interview at other internal studios, such as Montreal and Toronto. The full statement is available beyond the break.

Update: Due to UK law requiring employers to give a 60 day warning before layoffs, THQ says that THQ Warrington employees' warning "starts today ... and it is longer than 30 days." Given that, it's "not an immediate closure," but "a notification process leading to closure" for the UK-based studio.

Show full PR text

AGOURA HILLS, Calif., June 13, 2011 -- THQ confirmed today that it has made a strategic realignment within its internal studio structure and is in the process of closing two locations: the company's UK studio and KAOS studio in New York. Both studios' employees have been informed.

THQ continues its strategy of aligning the best industry talent with the company's marquee franchises. The Montreal studio will take over product development and overall creative management for the Homefront franchise. The Montreal studio actively collaborated with KAOS on Homefront.

The company continues to strengthen its internal creative development expertise and is actively hiring in many of its internal studios, including Montreal and Vancouver, Canada, as well as Austin, Texas. THQ's UK studio and KAOS employees will have the opportunity to interview for open positions with the company globally.
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Tags: homefront, kaos, kaos-studios, microsoft, pc, playstation, ps3, red-faction-battlegrounds, thq, thq-digital-warrington, warhammer-40k-kill-team, xbox

Reader Comments (57)

So that ongoing DLC support for Homefront...?

@docalien
is not coming home

@docalien
That's a bad way to start a week. Talk about a bad case of the Mondays.

@docalien

"In the meantime, Homefront development has been transferred to the company's Montreal studio."

@docalien

I had doubts about future DLC when their first one had only 2 maps and they still have yet to release the shotgun and free Homefront theme that was supposed to be available a week ago. Very glad I traded this game in yesterday.

I know there are mixed opinions (though mostly negative) about Homefront, but I personally loved the multiplayer. The campaign could've used some work, but the environment and the world they created showed promise.

@docalien
DLC and patches will continue for Homefront.

@DBuckEye

Think that was added after my comment. Good to know for the people still playing. Thought about picking the game back up when it was cheaper, as it was at least decently fun at times. Patches and DLC could, theoretically, fix my issues with it.

Goes to show that NYC is entirely too expensive to run a large game studio out of.

@Startingline13 ArmlessOctopus
Tell me about it....

@(Unverified)

Sure the game had its issues and wasn't critically praised, but the fact remains, it's freakin' expensive to run anything out of here, none the less a video game studio. I can't think of any Triple A's who have their DEVELOPMENT teams here.

*Note, rockstar has a business branch here in Manhattan, but not the developers.

@Startingline13 ArmlessOctopus BY THAT LOGIC ALL LARGE COMPANIES SHOULD HAVE LEFT NYC A LONG TIME AGO.

@kmcroc

Yeah. That's my point. There are no large game studios in NYC.

@Startingline13 ArmlessOctopus

Actually, Rockstar does, but if their releases ever falter, they might eventually have issues too in the long run.

@Startingline13 ArmlessOctopus
nyc has nothing to do with with closing their studio.They are plenty of business less profitable then video game studio that are successful nyc.

@Startingline13 ArmlessOctopus

mayor bloomberg unveiled big plans to make it profitable for game studios to work here. The problem is that I think the plans start this fall.

@Startingline13 ArmlessOctopus

This is why major game studios in North America are either in Southern US where labor laws don't exist or in Canada where they can use their muscle to convince local government to make it worth their while.

I think you are going to see less smaller publishers attempt the AAA shooter. This audience sticks to one game. It was Halo and now it is Call of Duty. This audience just plays the shooter that all their friends are playing and really doesn't need another game. I don't see anything wrong with it but the smaller publishers aren't going to try to capture this audience. I see EA and Activision continuously fighting over this audience.

@FriedConsole

Good. It sucks for them, but I hope all big publishers see this as a message that it's not worth being 'me too' about FPSes. If you want to try and compete in that market, make a great game and then worry about marketing.

Tends to happen when you make a crap game like Homefront. I mean seriously, how bad was that?

@Cletus VanDamme
Ehhh, less a "crap" game, and more so a merely mediocre game with a blockbuster advertising budget. I wonder how much of the total cost they managed to recoup.

@(Unverified)
No it was a bad game. Some of my friends worked on it and they weren't too happy about it.

But heh, the internet is funny. At launch if you said you liked it you were downvoted. Now if you say you didn't like it you get downvoted. YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK.

@(Unverified)

I played it, didn't hold me. Felt like a bunch of decent (and sometimes good) ideas poorly thrown together in hopes they'd all work. Got about half of the cheevos and sold it.

@(Unverified) I played it and I agree with him.

@(Unverified)
I played it and it was CRAP. I mean, in an effort to hide the jagged edges, they put fake drop shadow on everything. How amateur is that? I hate to see anyone lose their job, but in this case.....

@(Unverified) I played it and I agree with him, it was a pretty bad game. Unresponsive controls, poor graphics, poor AI, short, clunky, etc, etc, ad infinitum.....should I go on?

Homefront isn't in the top 20 most played on XBL and has less than 1k players per day on Steam even with 2.6 million copies sold. Kaos failed to properly support the game at launch, and couldn't even kick known cheaters off the PC leaderboards (or even in the game) a month later. If you are a game developer you have two to three weeks max after launch to build a player base and keep it.

@Cletus VanDamme
I can understand that you didn't like it - but I'd say it was more mediocre than crap. That being said, it had some good qualities that deserved more energies. It's a real shame these guys are being let go rather than given the chance to make a better sequel for it. I would have given a sequel a try for sure.

@docalien - That is why rental should be priority One, before dropping for the full cost. A FIVE hour single play and co-killing isn't a $59.99 bag for me.

@Syesta - I'd bet that they made back their production costs on launch day, and that they will never recoup their marketing costs. Since their marketing costs were likely much higher than their development costs, the whole project probably has red ink all over it.

What the hell. This is bullshit. Kaos was an awesome studio. Sure Homefront was a but quirky, but it was still enjoyable. And I still hold Homefront as one of my favorite shooters this generation. I guess this is one less devloper under THQ I will buying from. Which drops the number to what? Zero?

Hopefully the guys of Kaos open another studio and get back on track.

@Robborboy *a bit quirky

@Robborboy
I had a blast with it! They.never fixed the server issues om xbox360, but i loved it! flying a drone to take out a sniper was epic.

Homefront was awful but hardly a failure for THQ.. It sold much better than expected and helped out THQ big time. So I doubt they are abandoning the IP because of COD.. It's their other none fps games that have been shitting the bed, and Canada is the ticket for game development.. Hiel Canada! Stop Harper!

WTF were they thinking putting a studio in one of the most expensive locations in the world? DUMB.

Oh, that and creating a mediocre game. I'm sure they worked hard on the game, but obviously not hard enough. Sucks when people lose jobs though. I've been there.

:( I loved Homefront and Ty the tasmanian tiger, RIP Kaos :'(

Well, Homefront sold a million pretty easily, but shooters are all expected to be blockbusters, instead of selling well. Hopefully this will encourage more developers to diversify their genres instead of piling all of their hopes and dreams into having the next big FPS.

@SisypheanLife yeah but sales have nothing to do with quality...look how many copies Medal of Honor pushed and it was one of the worst games I played last year.

@sammo21

I just meant from the standpoint of sales for this developer. Its not as though Homefront sold poorly, even if it was largely because of advertising and hype.

Well, I probably misread something, but why would UK law apply to a Manhattan-based game studio like Kaos?

@Thomas9790 because they are closing two studios one in the uk and one in manhattan

@Thomas9790
UK law applies to an UK studio...

Well that sucks. Homefront was a good game. Definitely could be a great game if it had a bigger budget.

Hopefully they pass it on to another dev.

I didn't play Homefront, but I know I hated Frontlines. That sucks though, I heard Homefront was pretty good. (Not GotY by any means, but still good)

Sorry to the guys who lost there jobs or have to move, but this is good for the gaming industry. Copying ideas that where successful for other developers does not work! Leave Call of Duty alone. I'm a fan of it but one Call of Duty game a year is more than enough. Invest in something different. Copies are always inferior to the original.

@F1shBone stop copying other lame commenters.

Seriously though, it's as much of a copy of COD as BF is. In fact I'd say it had elements of both, which made it an interesting play. I'm guessing you never played Frontlines or Homefront. Competition is good for the industry, it forces those subtle changes to be more significant to keep things fresh.

Its games like Homefront that make me steer away from the fps genre.

no surprise here when you clone cod

Why didn't I and why won't I probably ever play Homefront? Other games that did the same did it better and are doing it better and will keep doing it better with mw3 and bf3 coming. With a blanket of games from before, now, and later, there's no reason for me to even bother with it. When that's the case for many others like me, the game just can't sell.

that's want you get for tricking me with your almost false advertising in to thinking game have epic story and single player and delivering 4 hours of poop at the end.

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Homefront Info

Description

The year is 2027. The world as we know it is unraveling after fifteen years of economic meltdown and widespread global conflict over dwindling natural resources. A once proud America has fallen, her infrastructure shattered and military in disarray. Crippled by a devastating EMP strike, the USA is powerless to resist the ever expanding occupation of a savage, nuclear armed Greater Korean Republic. Abandoned by her former allies, the United States is a bleak landscape of walled towns and abandoned suburbs. This is a police state where high school stadiums have become detention centers, and shopping malls shelter armored attack vehicles. A once-free people are now prisoners, or collaborators,or revolutionaries. Join the Resistance, stand united and fight for freedom against an overwhelming military force in Homefront's gripping single player campaign penned by John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Red Dawn). Stand alongside a cast of memorable characters as an emotional plot unfolds in this terrifyingly plausible near-future world. Experience visceral, cinematic first-person shooter action as you fight your way across Occupied USA using guerrilla tactics, and commandeer military vehicles and advanced drone technology to defeat the enemy. Multiplayer brings epic warfare to the online arena as infantry, tanks, attack helicopters and combat drones battle across huge, open battlefields. A rich feature set offering layers of tactical depth combined with a game-changing innovation in the multiplayer space will set a new benchmark in online warfare.

Homefront

THQ shutters Homefront dev Kaos Studios and THQ Digital Warrington

Reader Comments (57)

Posted: Jun 13th 2011 12:20PM docalien said

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Homefront Info

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