Fri, Sep 04, 2009 | 15:58 BST
Splatterhouse dev, Bottlerocket, shuts its doors

BottleRocket Entertainment has shut down.
Work on the Splatterhouse project was canceled after Namco Bandai dropped the developer earlier this year.
“After fighting to keep the doors open for the past six months we have decided to close and move on,” studio president Jay Beard told Kotaku.
Beard told the site that he is currently “in the process of building a new development studio from the ground up,” but did not offer any further information on the extent of his progress.
More through the link.


15 comments
#1
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 4:00 pm
anther console game devs goes bankuprt. The list gets bigger in this recssion. More proff that consoles are killing game devs.
one more link to add to my now long list of dead game devs. That I have started to monitor.
#2
Gekidami
04/09/09, 4:10 pm
Yet most of those dead game devs you tend to list also made PC games.
As for BottleRocket, they’ve closed because they havnt made a game that was actually released in 4 years and lost all their funding when Splatterhouse moved dev to Namco Bandai (far as i know Stephany it wasnt canned and is meant to come out in 2010).
#3
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 4:12 pm
pc game devs are fair alot better in this recssion than console game devs.
In fact pc games are makng more than console game devs right now.
so I wonder who will be the next publisher or console game devs comapny to go bankuprt or close it’s doors.
here check this out in japan you know the ps3 right, well I hear something got broken over there.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/japanese-ps3-sales-tumble-ahead-of-slim-launch
#4
Gekidami
04/09/09, 4:17 pm
Seeing as most PC games these days are multiplat, or from devs like EA and Acti who have several teams under their umbrella its not really surprising. The only exception is the ‘indie movement’ and thats because their games are cheap to make.
Over all PC software sales are terrible compared to console with only a few well established franchises doing well.
You may was to read the article through that link btw, the reason for low sales is blantantly stated.
#5
Blerk
04/09/09, 4:18 pm
Yeah, it’s funny how the release of a new model at a cheaper price can scupper sales of the old one the week before it arrives.
#6
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 4:19 pm
if I was a console game dev i would be very afraid of the console market.
the list of game devs going bankuprt is insane.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/playlogic-reports-loss-of-33-million
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3174841
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/video-game-makers-seeing-red/
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090506005551&newsLang=en
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/483/the-developer-graveyard
#7
Gekidami
04/09/09, 4:37 pm
You do know that nearly every dev listed in those links made PC games right? The list of closed studios from Nowgamer actually has more PC devs listed then anything else.
#8
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 4:39 pm
yea well they are losing money on consoles at the end of the day. I wonder how well wolfenstin is doing these days.
#9
Michael O'Connor
04/09/09, 4:45 pm
“if I was a console game dev i would be very afraid of the console market. the list of game devs going bankuprt is insane.”
I’m trying really, really hard to hold back on the abuse right now, but… seriously, are you an idiot? We’re in the middle of a recession! Thousands of businesses in dozens of hundreds of different areas of commerce are going bankrupt!
You act like this is purely the fault of the console market, when its not. The PC is doing just as badly; only the biggest companies are making games on it that are a decent success.
#10
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 4:48 pm
you can try harder I’m not the one losing money on them consoles lol.
here lets make a bet, I think the company or should I say companies to say they are closing their doors will be a console game devs. Maybe even a publisher losing tons of money them consoles.
history is only repeating self and picking up speed in a ression.;)
#11
Michael O'Connor
04/09/09, 4:54 pm
It’s not “speaking up speed” because of the recession. It’s happening *because* of the recession!
Dear lord.
Companies go down under all the time, through their own bad practises, and this has nothing to do with the fact that they are developing for consoles, which, in case you haven’t noticed, *is* the biggest slice of the gaming market.
PC gaming is great, I love it as much as anyone, but in case you haven’t noticed it generally has an extremely small selection of releases, and it’s been a niche category for years now.
#12
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 4:56 pm
they were losing money even before the ression. That is hardware and software.the recession is only speeding things up even more. It’s called high productions costs.
must of it in marketing too.
#13
Gekidami
04/09/09, 5:05 pm
What world do you live in BDH? Have you actually looked at what studios have gone bust? Most of them didnt release anything in over 4 years nor did they have any projects going, its got nothing to do with high productions costs or marketing its because the devs simpley stoped working and therefore stoped getting fundings from publishers. And all that before the ‘high production cost’ PS3 and 360 came out.
#14
JonFE
04/09/09, 5:35 pm
Why do you insist trying to reason with him? He wouldn’t budge even if all PC games suddenly ceased to exist
#15
blackdreamhunk
04/09/09, 7:15 pm
share holder reason around red numbers and black enough said. My reasoning will work wel too when game devs find them self out of a dream job.