Ty the Tasmanian Tiger developer Krome Studios will close their doors this coming Monday, it’s being reported today. The news came after Q-Games boss Dylan Cuthbert tweeted about the studio closing down.
Back in August, it was reported that the Australian studio had layed off staff at their Melbourne and Brisbane studios, as well as closed down their Adelaide studio. Krome Studios CEO, Robert Walsh, refused to confirm claims that the aforementioned lay-offs were “pretty out of control“.
The studio’s most recent title, Blade Kitten, released across PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE Arcade and PC late last month. The title received mainly poor reviews.
It’s sad to see another developer shut down and so many jobs lost. The studio employed over 200 developers. If it means anything, Dylan Cuthbert is offering those layed off at Krome a chance to join Q-Games, if they’re willing to travel to Kyoto, that is.
Thanks, Vooks.
It’s always a shame to see any developer shut down. I never did get round to playing Blade Kitten, though I always thought it looked fairly entertaining. Either way, it’s still pretty bad news to hear.
well that sucks, now the game will never be finish
Said to see one of my ‘local’ (well, national) developers close down.. it’s uncertain times for what’s left of the industry here.
That’s a shame indeed, I played the demo and was very surprised by how enticing the game turned out to be, it reminded me of ‘Commander Keen’, from Apogee, and I mean that as a compliment. It was truly old-school, in a a satisfying ‘everything has a discernible logic’ kind of way, and the level at the end of the demo had a really nice scale.
Only reason I haven’t yet purchased it is I have no space on my hard drive currently, and frankly I was too busy nailing Split/Second. Well, I’ll still get it, even if it may ‘never be finished’ now as narutomaki said. Sad, really sad, hopefully they’ll find other jobs soon (those that can’t simply move to Japan, of course, which I’m guessing is many).