Activision has pulled the plug on Prototype studio Radical Entertainment.
Rumors of the end of Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment that surfaced earlier today have now been confirmed by parent company Activision. “Although we made a substantial investment in the Prototype IP, it did not find a broad commercial audience,” the company said in a statement. “Radical is a very talented team of developers, however, we have explored various options for the studio, including a potential sale of the business, and have made a difficult conclusion through the consultation process that the only remaining option is a significant reduction in staff.”
Radical apparently won’t disappear completely, as Activision said some employees will remain to support ongoing projects at other studios. “But the studio will cease development of its own games going forward,” the publisher added.
Radical’s last game was Prototype 2, which came out for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in April. It was the top-selling game for the month, beating out Kinect Star Wars and Modern Warfare 3 – not exactly the stiffest competition ever, in other words – but overall sales for the month were down by 32 percent year-over-year. The game then slipped to fourth in May, behind Diablo 3, Max Payne 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier; actual numbers haven’t been released but according to Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz, both Max Payne 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier “underperformed” for the month, selling just over 400,000 units each.
We here at The Escapist wish all the best to everyone affected by the layoffs.
