In a statement provided to GameIndustry.biz today, Sony Interactive Entertainment has confirmed that it is closing Evolution Studios, the development house behind the World Rally Championship, MotorStorm, and Driveclub games. Today's closure follows a decision last March to layoff 55 members of the studio.

Sony's statement shines some light onto the reasons behind this decision:

Regular reviews take place throughout SCE Worldwide Studios, ensuring that the resources that we have in such a competitive landscape can create and produce high quality, innovative and commercially viable projects.

As part of this process we have reviewed and assessed all current projects and plans for the short and medium term and have decided to make some changes to the European studios structure.

As a result, it has been decided that Evolution Studio will close.

The company goes on to explain that it has decided to focus "on other Studios that already have exciting new projects in development," which definitely suggests that things at Evolution may not have been going great after Driveclub's rocky release.

It's fair to say that Evolution's most recent game, Driveclub, was a bit of a mess, but throughout the studio's 17 year history, they delivered some solid racing experiences. The original MotorStorm was something of a breakout hit for the team, and though it was a little thin, it built a ton of fan loyalty with it's speed and spectacle. I'd always hoped that they'd find some followup success with a new series for this generation of consoles.

Over on Twitter, some former Evolution devs have been posting farewellmessages, and their fans have shown a pretty strong outpouring of support. Hopefully the folks affected by this closure will land on their feet and finds employment soon.

That's a bummer, wasn't a huge fan of any of their games as Evolution, but they were formed by the remnants of Digital Image Design and Psygnosis, two studios I absolutely adored in the 90's.

Definitely a shame for UK development (from which Sony picked up over the years various groups and have been slowly closing them all down - seems like the UK's tax incentives have not been enough to keep the local studios open as foreign publishers* close one after another in recent years) and the team. Not only was DriveClub VR a complete engine rework to get that operating at the 120fps required for VR but also they'd been teasing more content to come following on from DC Bikes (while it may not have been a critical success, DC is still one of the top tier driving game sellers this generation).

Another piece of the fragments of Psygnosis closes down.

* Pretty much the only publishers left after mergers etc removed the local publishing companies.

Always hate to see people lose their jobs.

I was going to say im sad Austin did not link to the GB award to hottest mess in 14 but I forgot Drive Club did not win, Halo did.

Really sad. UK was the land of arcade racers. Still is, but it's a much smaller land now.

To be fair, Drive Club is no longer a mess, and is supposedly one of the best racing games out there now (at least according to Eurogamer). Such a shame for this dev.

1 bad game can kill a developer/studio, proving once again how big of a risk making video games is.

@shivoa: Did something happen this year? First Lionhead now Evolution in short succession. Is it just a coincidence or did tax incentives shift in '16?

Also I feel for the people who lost their jobs. Driveclub had a terrible launch but a lot of people liked the Motorstorm games and by most accounts Driveclub did get fixed eventually and was very well supported.

I have a feeling the studio had been marked for death by someone, somewhere, since the disastrous DriveClub launch and PS Plus debacle. It was just a matter of time, even if they may have redeemed themselves and the game eventually. Unfortunate.

By the way, Evolution were only involved with the PS2 era World Rally Championship games, WRC games are still being made, but the last few have been made by Milestone s.r.l. and Kylotonn Entertainment.

man i really loved MotorStorm ):

@bigsocrates: I think general game dev friendly tax incentives have only gotten better in recent years (the big change was 2 years ago when breaks specifically just for game development arrived) but there was a big push for them recently and I'm not sure the industry got everything it wanted (to stay competitive with stuff like some Canadian regional tax breaks) and there were cultural limits imposed on some breaks.

Looking long-term, the UK may not even be in the EU in 5 years so making long-term plans it's possible that local volatility means large companies are less likely to risk further investment in local teams when leaving the EU could have serious economic shock (messing with ability to move staff between EU offices, have a single pan-European legal team who can manage all legal issues, and possibly mess with costs if the economy spins off from mainland Europe in either direction).

And I had just recently been thinking that a new Motorstorm on PS4 would be rad. Oh well. :( Hope the people affected can get new jobs.

How do you go from one of the most beloved Sony developers with Motorstorm to the mess that was Drive Club? What a bummer.

Just the other day I was wondering what the chances are of another Motorstorm being released. Sadly I think I got my answer.

That's too bad. They really turned Drive Club into an amazing game.

Haven't really liked any of their games... that's about all i can say :S, i'd add "ahh but maybe they would have improved and made better games in the future", but really when does that ever happen.

That's really too bad. Many people may not like Driveclub, but the post-release support has been undeniably stellar. Hope the people affected find work quick.

Really disappointing, first Studio Liverpool and now Evolution Studios, apparently first party arcade racers from Sony are a no go... A real shame as Wipeout HD and Motorstorm where two of my favourite arcade racers on PS3.

A new Motorstorm in the Driveclub engine would have been awesome. :(

Pacific Rift was the best racing game of last gen. Sorry if that stings but it's true.

Motorstorm was great, especially Pacific Rift. This leaves Polyphony Digital as the remaining Sony racing developer and I haven't really liked the direction of the Gran Turismo series since GT4.

What Sony did with DriveClub is borderline criminal, in my opinion. I don't believe you should be able to advertise games and content for your upcoming system in order to get people to buy it and then not actually provide that game in the state that you promised. That, to me, is very much false advertising.

That sucks. I wouldn't say they ever made the "Best X of Y", but they made pretty consistently fun, quality games.

Hate to see jobs lost but who knows, they seem to have a lot of talent, maybe getting out from under the "flagship first-party" label will lead to better things for those involved.

I hate to see people lose their jobs but to be fair drive club had a shit show release and despite continued support from dedicated devs remained a mediocre game.

Well that blows, Drive Club is really good now and they really supported that game post launch with a lot of free content.

I guess those console makers are getting ready to.. get out of the business? I don't know, but there are not a whole lot of first party studios left on either side of this. I guess they want to sell consoles with just third party deals and timed exclusives from here on out.

Either way, I really liked some of the games Evolution has put out and it's a giant shame to see them go out like this. Oh and Driveclub wasn't as bad as some people made it seem like. There was a pretty good driving game hiding underneath all the club- and progression crap they added.

Damn it, I really wanted a Motorstorm for PS4.

really loved the original motorstorm. but this makes sense.

Motor Storm 1 and Pacific Rift were SO GOOD.

But Driveclub was such a mess.

And yet, DriveClub is the kind of thing that should kill them. Had they hit their original release date, they might've snapped up a few more sales to encourage the brass but that game just wasn't fun or enduring enough. They did such good work with the WRC license.

Gosh, Sony's first-party has been a trainwreck for the PS4. Hopefully this is the year where they get their ducks in a row and put out high quality games.

Driveclub was not a bit of a mess, it's just more of a European style racing game. Shame this site doesn't have the perspective to see that.

Driveclub is an amazing game. That is all.

Motorstorm was cool, I can say that much. Driveclub ain't bad at all, just not my cup of tea.

I hope they form into a new studio that focuses on community funded racing games instead. I'd love to see a simulator with the graphics fidelity of Driveclub for PC.

Yes agreed. They probably should have done that instead of the shambles that was the Driveclub launch.

But then I guess the shambles was mostly down to the network and it may have affected a new Motorstorm too.

We'll never know I guess.

That's a real bummer Drive Club is an awesome game. no matter how hard Jeff tries to convince people its not.

DriveClub is super fantastic, this is a real shame. Was hoping for a new MotorStorm without the stupid stuff they began to add as the series went on.

Can't say I played any of their games, but I also didn't want to?

Still sucks when people are out of work, and I hope they bounce back quickly.

Its odd to me, as much as I love GT, how these guys get the axe after actually shipping a game even if delayed by alot, PD haven't even mentioned their spring beta for GT Sport.

Well, that stinks. It is too bad that Sony isn't in a position to float them a lit longer, but I just hope everyone can settle into new positions elsewhere.

A real shame, hopefully all the people from this studio will find a new job or maybe form a new studio to work on new projects. Gutted on a personal level as well, I loved the WRC games back on the PS2 and had hoped Sony would get the license back to make new WRC titles in the future. With this and the news on Scribblenauts it seems not so great times in video game development in some areas. Hopefully all involved get a new job and are happy in their new place(s) of work.

Always unfortunate when people lose their jobs. Hope everyone lands on their feet.

Driveclub should act as a big warning to developers that no matter how much you intend to support and improve your game post-release its a real uphill battle to recover from poor initial reception.

I was late to the PS4 party, so by the time I got Driveclub, I saw nothing but a truly fantastic and beautiful looking racing game. Sadly and vastly underrated.

Motorstorm was great. I wanted them to do a new Jet Moto/Motorstorm crossover and now it will never happen. Thanks, Driveclub.

Heart goes out to those who lost their job.

I thought Motorstorm was neat, at least from the demos I played.

This is what I was thinking as well. Polyphony Digital hasn't even managed to ship a game on the PS4 yet. I guess Gran Turismo must just make so much money it doesn't matter if they take 5 years to make a game. Team ICO is even more bizarre. They haven't shipped a game in over a decade.

Driveclub was just one blunder after another for a while, but it ended up being a pretty solid racing game once they got everything sorted out. It's sad to see Evolution get shut down.

@deadstar said:

Catch me at the right time, and there's a good chance I'd agree with this. I liked the original MS a great deal, too. What a 'wow' moment that was on the (then) new systems. Apocalypse was a big misstep, however.

I got DriversClub during a Flash Sale a months ago but haven't installed and played it yet. This is unfortunate, especially since there is no news about a new Gran Turismo anywhere.