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Why Guerrilla Cambridge Really Closed

Former SCE Cambridge Studio Closes After Subsequently Missing Sales Targets. The U.K. First Party Studio Leaves Behind 20 Years Of PlayStation Exclusives.

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keengamer.com
moegooner883282d ago

Primal will always be one of my fav games. Very underrated.

AspiringProGenji3282d ago

Too bad. They shouldn't have closed them like that after they released RIGS. They still got 10 studios so it is not like they are lacking. But a loss is a loss

Death3281d ago

It's unfortunate the Rigs owners lost out in the additional content and support that was being worked on.

DigitalRaptor3281d ago

It's a real shame, but at least they got to release their game that they had been working on.

Relientk773282d ago

Still want more MediEvil games

Kratos0Ace3282d ago

My hope is the Blue Point Games is working on Medievil 1 remaster/remake for PS4. It'd be cool if the PS Classic they are working on turns out to be Medievil.

MrSec843280d ago

In response to your reply to ruefrak about Media Molecule, you have to bare in mind that the studio are smaller now than Guerrilla Cambridge were and they've had a better hit rate than Cambridge did.
Tearaway was also developed with a fraction of the Studio's resources, critically rated higher than Killzone Mercenary and Tearaway's sales weren't far off of Mercenary's.
Tearaway could have cost less than half of the dev price and marketing budget compared to Killzone Mercenary.

Media Molecule have probably made a good profit for Sony on each project they've put out, even Tearaway, Cambridge undoubtedly cost Sony, if that wasn't the case they'd like still be around now.
Tearaway Unfolded was a pretty quick turn around title, which required minimal resources for MM, it also probably sold enough to break even.
Dreams is probably not a high cost investment for the studio by modern standards and the prospects for what's possible in the game are huge, from creative, user generated content, to professional dev made worlds and game elements from every conceivable game genre make Dreams a highly marketable title.

I doubt it's cost more than $20m to make, even if you said it's been in full development for 4 years, it could probably be profitable if Sony released it at $40 and sold 500k, but it could easily top 1 million unit.

Darkfist_Flames3281d ago

MediEvil is perfect with a darkborne style.

thekhurg3281d ago

OMG I completely forgot about the hours and hours of fun I had with that game until now.

Thanks for bringing back memories.

rlow13281d ago

That would be awesome, remember playing the first one and it was so much fun. Sony could surprise us.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3280d ago
CrystalFantasy3281d ago

Sony's mismanagement of Guerrilla Cambridge is what caused the studio to close. This is on you Playstation execs.

Gazondaily3281d ago

Lmao. I wouldn't be surprised if people on here would find a way to blame them.

Prince_TFK3281d ago

Nahhhhh it's Nintendo's fault for releasing an underpowered console.

MrSec843281d ago (Edited 3281d ago )

Actually Sony tends to let their studios manage themselves, which has been reported numerous times by their 1st Party devs, even when they're let go and ex Sony staff would be incentivised to say negative things about Sony's management they praise them for giving them a chance.

Cambridge didn't have to make the games they did, looking at their history they've had numerous projects which sold well under a million units, for a Studio with dozens of staff, working on projects for years Sony would need to at least top the million mark to break even.
It's clear that Sony gave the Studio multiple chances, even after their past releases sold badly and eventually Sony has to think of the bottom line, instead of continually throwing more cash at the studio.

The Cambridge situation is exactly the same as the other Studios Sony have closed since the 7th gen, they give Studios freedom, fund and support them well, but eventually something has to give if the projects those Studios are making aren't bringing in the funds to pay for the current project and set up a budget for the next game.

Kratos0Ace3281d ago

Totally agree with you. They should have focused all their energy on Medievil in my opinion. Other Sony studios are known for at least one big seller: Naughty Dog (Uncharted, many others), Santa Monica (God of War), Media Molecule (LBP), Poliphony (Gran Turismo), Sucker Punch (Infamous), etc.... Guerrilla Cambridge instead was all over the place. They tried lots of new IPs: C-12, Primal, Ghosthunter, RIGS, alas none where neither critically-acclaimed nor at least sold a million.

343_Guilty_Spark3281d ago

Yea all Studios have managers duh

Phill-Spencer3281d ago (Edited 3281d ago )

343

But it's a difference if a studio has a sense of freedom to be creative or be strangleheld like say the few ms' studios with almost no creative freedom outside of their respective ip.

Tussin1873281d ago (Edited 3281d ago )

What??? I'm sorry but this studio has been around since the 90s. They have had plenty of chances to prove themselves and made many games in the process. I'm thankful Sony stuck with them this long.

I'm sure a lot of their games didn't even make a profit. But what am I talking about, clearly you know more than us as you said in your comment. Thanks for the inside scoop​.

O_O

rainslacker3281d ago (Edited 3281d ago )

I don't think their games were ever the problem though. Most of their games were actually quite good.

Edit: I edited my comment because I realized I misread the article, and assumed that this was an official statement from one of the devs involved, and then came to realize that it was just some speculation piece.

ruefrak3281d ago

I think you're on to something. Cambridge supported Sony's crazy side projects like Vita and PSVR. Had they just played it safe and made a PS4 game, they'd probably still be around.

Now I think Media Molecule are deliberately stalling on releasing Dreams because they know once it flops, the studio is getting shut down.

MrSec843281d ago

Assuming you're replying to CrystalFantasy, this person you're replying to isn't on to anything.
Cambridge weren't forced to develop for Vita or PSVR, they chose to make games for those platforms, plus they even made games for basically every other Sony device and technically RIGS has to run on PS4 to play, but their titles didn't sell well for the most part, yet Sony still kept them around since 1997.

Media Molecule have had great success with LBP 1&2, Tearaway sold well for a Vita game and Unfolded didn't require more than a small fraction of the Studio's resources to be made, so it's sales didn't need to be that high to be considered a success.

There's every indication that Dreams will do very well with it's target audience, hell it's going to have a huge core adventure, as well as be the evolution of the creative style of content the Studio have become famous for. You can basically make anything you want digitally, which will mean Media Molecule can create a tonne of content, along with the game's core audience being able to expand the game's universe in a seemingly endless way.
If content creators can make anything from any game genre, their own assets, animations, movies, music and so on then the possibilities are quite literally only limited by the creator's imagination (and current processing/RAM limits).

Media Molecule aren't stalling, they began making the tools to make their game, but that was a long undertaking because they didn't just want to slap a game engine, asset rendering, audio maker and content editor into a basic package, they wanted to make all of that work seamlessly together, while also being fun to use. They started actually building their core Dreams game when they revealed Dreams to the public at E3 2015.
BTW Media Molecule are a smaller studio than Guerrilla Cambridge were, by a good 20 people, so MM's costs are quite a bit lower.
MM may also be working on something else besides Dreams, since content creation is very fast with the game's tools. They could be building multiple games with Dream's tools.

Kratos0Ace3281d ago

@ ruefrak

I fear the same for Media Molecule. Tearaway on Vita had less sales than Killzone Mercenary at the end and the Tearaway Unfolded on PS4 bombed saleswise really hard. Dreams failure in sales could be the last straw.

In turn, I feel that since RIGS was a VR game that missed sales targets, Sony London and the Machester Studio's new VR games better make some decent numbers or Sony will pull out of the U.K. altogether and avoid such high taxes in the process.

_-EDMIX-_3281d ago (Edited 3281d ago )

Agreed

I believe that team could have been put to better use.

I agree that Sony give them a lot of freedom but at the same time it over the years they were making a bunch of lackluster games I think Sony should have simply combine them with another team because it's sad that it had to come to this.

MrSec843281d ago (Edited 3281d ago )

Technically Cambridge were a part of Guerrilla, but how closures effect staff employment within the wider publishing company depends on the individual people getting laid off, whether they want to join another studio within that pubs family of devs or location, because maybe people can't move their lives to another part of the country or another country entirely for a new job, families may not want to move to London if they're happy in Cambridge and the dev may not want an almost 3 hour round trip every day to get to and from work.
Nearby studios may not need your particular skill set.
In some cases maybe developers don't have the budget to hire someone new.

There could also be issues with a developer, maybe they have a bad reputation and only had employment within Sony because of their longterm experience at that one studio and it was only that studio that were happy to put up with that person's ways.

Things aren't always clear cut and easy to work out because we wish it.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3281d ago
Aenea3281d ago

The real reason? It's still the same speculation as when it happened and a rundown of the games they made. This doesn't add anything new...

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70°

Microsoft Gaming Revenue Drops 7% Year-on-Year, Content and Services Down 5%, Xbox Hardware Down 33%

Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.

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simulationdaily.com
Jin_Sakai15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.

dveio15d ago

To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.

Jingsing15d ago

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Tanktopmaster9215d ago

Once they re-evaluate exclusive all will be fine….

S2Killinit15d ago

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

Jingsing15d ago

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Tanktopmaster9215d ago

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

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50°

Spiders Studio, Developers of GreedFall: The Dying World, Announce Liquidation of the Company

Spiders: "We're going to cut straight to the chase so you're not left wondering: After a long period without clear answers, we have received confirmation that Spiders is being liquidated.

What does it mean? This means the company as a whole no longer exists. We'll cease our functions immediately. The planned DLC will release via Nacon, and then-- well, that's it.

We're sorry that it's come to this and would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.

If you have any questions or run into issues with your games, please contact Nacon directly as we'll no longer be able to reply."

40°

Koei Tecmo Announces Record Financial Results After Releasing Many Big Games

Today, Koei Tecmo announced its financial results for the full fiscal year 2025, related to the period between April 2025 and March 2026.

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simulationdaily.com