Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're taking a look at the 10 video game studios
00:14that we wish we didn't lose.
00:23Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:27Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:32Visceral Games
00:45Visceral Games was once an incredibly successful studio.
00:48Formerly known as EA Redwood Shores, Visceral was widely known for developing the Dead Space
00:53franchise.
00:54Unfortunately, with the release of Dead Space 3, the company's future started to look
00:58bleak.
00:59EA meddled with the game mid-development, demanding Visceral incorporate cooperative
01:04multiplayer and microtransactions.
01:15Even after the negative reception of that, Visceral Games still had an ace up its sleeve
01:19in the form of Star Wars Ragtag.
01:21Alas, that ace was never put in play.
01:24EA's executives cooked up a wild theory that single-player games were dying, thus
01:29deeming Star Wars Ragtag a fruitless endeavor in their eyes.
01:33And so, Visceral Games was shut down in October 2017.
01:37EA went on to publish Star Wars Battlefront II shortly after, and received massive backlash
01:42for the game's monetization.
01:44In 2019, the company published Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, a single-player game that would
01:49wind up selling more than 10 million copies within five months after launch.
02:02Lionhead Studios Even when founder Peter Molyneux was overpromising
02:10on the next Fable game, it was hard to hate on Lionhead Studios and their acclaimed RPG
02:15franchise.
02:16Fable did have a magic to it, and shape your adventure to become Albion's hero or villain.
02:21That's why so many were pained in 2016 when Microsoft decided to shut the studio down,
02:27right in the middle of Lionhead's next game, an online multiplayer spinoff of Fable.
02:37Many factors played into Lionhead's closure from then-recent flops like Fable The Journey
02:41for Kinect, to the rapid decline in Xbox One sales.
02:45However, fans and former staff will point to how Microsoft forced the studio to work
02:49on Kinect before abandoning that, and then forcing Lionhead to develop a live-service
02:55game.
02:56Fable Legends supposedly cost Microsoft roughly $75 million during its four-year development.
03:08United Front Games If you've heard of United Front Games, it's
03:21probably because somebody told you about how great of a game Sleeping Dogs is.
03:26What they may not have told you is that the studio that made it is no longer around.
03:30United Front Games was one of many studios that never got the attention and praise it
03:35deserved.
03:36From its customizable kart racer ModNation Racers to the captivating story of Sleeping
03:40Dogs, United Front Games was pumping out quality titles that very, very, very few people ever
03:47bought.
03:53In a desperate attempt to catch the wave of online gaming popularity in the mid-2010s,
03:57UFG pivoted to two online projects, both of which were met with middling to negative reception
04:03from players who participated in their respective betas.
04:06One of these games, Smash Plus Grab, would launch in 2016, but a couple of weeks later,
04:11UFG announced their closure.
04:13In other words, they had untapped potential that publishers allowed to wither away.
04:26LucasArts and Disney Interactive
04:37Once upon a time, these two subsidiaries of media powerhouses dominated the gaming space.
04:42Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, LucasArts was known for its point and click gems on
04:47PC like Sam & Max and Grim Fandango, along with its vast assortment of Star Wars games.
04:59Disney Interactive, on the other hand, was known for publishing and or co-developing
05:03various games based on Disney IP, ranging from tie-ins like A Bug's Life and Hercules
05:09to original works like Kingdom Hearts and Epic Mickey.
05:12Unfortunately, the decline in popularity of movie tie-ins came swiftly in the late
05:162000s and early 2010s.
05:18When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, the conglomerate chose to close down LucasArts'
05:23internal development teams, keeping only enough staff to handle legalities and licensing.
05:29Disney Interactive was allowed to stick around until Disney Infinity continuously failed
05:33to catch on, prompting Disney to close their gaming division in 2016.
05:37LucasArts continues to exist today only as a license holder, working with other gaming
05:41companies like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft for Star Wars games.
05:45Disney Interactive has been replaced with Disney Electronic Content, a successor of
05:49the company, but with a heavier focus on mobile and live service gaming.
06:00Free Radical Design
06:01Poor FRD.
06:10Born from former Rare developers who worked on GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, Free Radical
06:15Design made a name for itself in the early 2000s for the TimeSplitters games.
06:20Unfortunately, its last game, Haze, was such a colossal failure that it landed the studio
06:25in serious financial turmoil.
06:27It found a second life when it was sold to Crytek in 2009, but that didn't last long
06:32as Crytek failed to pay the staff on time, causing an internal war between the two.
06:40Free Radical Design would shut down in 2014 with almost all of its assets being sold to
06:44Koch Media.
06:45Now here's where things get super messed up.
06:48In 2018, Koch Media was bought by Embracered Group, who then announced in 2021 that they
06:53were resurrecting Free Radical Design and rehiring the staff to work on a new TimeSplitters
06:58game.
06:59Two years later, Embracered Group found itself in deep financial trouble as it placed too
07:03many bets on games like Saints Row that failed to rake in profits.
07:07In a desperate attempt to downsize and restructure, Embracered Group wound up shutting down Free
07:12Radical Design at the tail end of 2023.
07:14In other words, the studio died twice.
07:23Neversoft
07:29Many will forever remember Neversoft as the geniuses behind Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and
07:33the short-lived Tony Hawk's Underground series.
07:36But what could have happened to cause such a revered studio to close?
07:40Well, after the success of Guitar Hero 3, Activision Blizzard pushed Neversoft to develop
07:45more and more Guitar Hero games to capitalize on the IP's success.
07:49Between 2008 and 2010, Neversoft belted out 5 whole Guitar Hero games, none of which were
07:56well-liked by fans.
08:04The last Guitar Hero game, Warriors of Rock, miserably flopped in sales, which spelled
08:09doom for Neversoft.
08:11Activision would cease all efforts on the IP in 2010 and wound up having Neversoft absorbed
08:16into Infinity Ward.
08:17Basically, they became more fuel for the Call of Duty bonfire.
08:29Pandemic Studios
08:39Whereas many studios on our list at least had opportunities to impress, Pandemic had
08:44absolutely zero control over its fate.
08:47Many of us fondly remember Pandemic for its work on Destroy All Humans, the original Star
08:51Wars Battlefront games, the Mercenaries games, and the often forgotten 2009 gem, the Saboteur.
09:02With such a stellar portfolio, how could this studio have perished so suddenly?
09:06Well, Electronic Arts happened.
09:08In 2007, EA bought VG Holding Corp., the parent company of both Pandemic Studios and BioWare.
09:16Shortly after, in February 2009, EA swiftly began cutting jobs with Pandemic being almost
09:22completely wiped by the end of the year.
09:24Before they knew it, Pandemic consisted of just 35 staff members, all of which were soon
09:29absorbed into EA Los Angeles as they winded down on the Saboteur's development.
09:34Thankfully, much of the staff would bounce back and land jobs at other studios, some
09:38of which wound up working at Respawn Entertainment, another EA-owned game studio.
09:47Alpha Dream
09:52Very rarely do you ever hear about Nintendo Studios, let alone their external partners,
09:57getting shuttered.
09:58Alpha Dream was one of those incredibly rare cases, and it was a super upsetting one.
10:03Nintendo fans would know Alpha Dream as the Mario and Luigi studio, the brains behind
10:08Superstar Saga, Bowser's Inside Story, and, well, the rest of the franchise.
10:13Unfortunately, fatigue for the IP kicked in during the 2010s.
10:17Dream Team didn't interest the fans, and Paper Jam felt like a half-baked crossover
10:21with Paper Mario.
10:28Despite the exceptional remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story in 2017 and
10:332019 respectively, Alpha Dream's efforts were overshadowed by the Switch's explosive
10:37success during those years.
10:39Folks simply didn't want to play any more 3DS games.
10:42Alpha Dream soon found themselves filing for bankruptcy in late 2019, shortly after the
10:47release of their first Switch game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which
10:52they co-developed alongside Sega and numerous other studios.
11:03Japan Studio
11:10In early 2021, trouble was brewing within PlayStation.
11:14Unbeknownst to most folks, PlayStation's Japanese and Western branches were in a tumultuous
11:18war with each other, fighting for power over what direction to take the PlayStation brand.
11:23If you haven't noticed from the platform holder's exclusives, the Western branch
11:27has won.
11:28As a result, Sony shut down Japan Studio, one of its original first-party studios going
11:33all the way back to the PS1 days.
11:40Hardcore PlayStation fans will remember Japan Studio as the geniuses behind Sony's more
11:45experimental titles like Parappa the Rapper, the Patapon series, the LocoRoco series,
11:50Ape Escape, The Legend of Dragoon, and the Gravity Rush games.
11:54Anyways, hope everybody's out there enjoying their cinematic open-world action RPGs.
12:04Tango Gameworks
12:14The closure of Tango Gameworks will forever be remembered as one of Microsoft's greatest
12:18failures, right up there with mishandling Lionhead Studios.
12:22Founded by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, Tango Gameworks quickly found some financial
12:27security after being bought by Bethesda just months after beginning operations.
12:32Tango Gameworks soon made a name for itself with the Evil Within series, but when Microsoft
12:36acquired Bethesda in 2021, things started to look rocky.
12:40Ghostwire Tokyo failed to catch the public's attention in 2022, yet Hi-Fi Rush saw almost
12:46universal praise in 2023, winning a handful of awards in the process.
12:53Alas, it wasn't enough.
12:59Between the game's shadow drop and its immediate availability on Xbox Game Pass, one can safely
13:04assume Hi-Fi Rush failed to generate enough sales, as Microsoft only ever talked about
13:09how many people played the game, yet never stated how many copies were sold.
13:13Following Microsoft's monumental acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, Tango Gameworks
13:17was told to close its doors in May 2024.
13:21President of Xbox Sarah Bond states this was to consolidate and to quote, invest more deeply
13:26in our portfolio of games and new IP, end quote, yet they chose to close a studio that
13:31delivered a new IP and won several awards in the process.
13:36Make it make sense please.
13:45Which game studio do you miss the most, and did it make our list?
13:48Share the love for these studios down in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe to
13:52Mojo Plays for more great videos every day.