GRIN was a Swedish game development studio, best known for their work on the PC versions of the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter series and the two new Bionic Commando games. GRIN closed their doors August 12th, 2009.
well when all the games your company has made turn out to be bad your not a company for long and to the people that say BC was good one word...........wifearm
From Gamasutra: "Gamasutra has learned from reliable development sources that Stockholm-based developer GRIN has seen significant layoffs, and may be facing difficulty staying afloat. The news comes after the company saw heavy layoffs earlier this year, no doubt the partial result of weaker-than-expected sales and critical reception to 2009 games like Bionic Commando, Wanted: Weapons of Fate, and Terminator Salvation. According to a Swedish-language report from IDG this past June -- which went seemingly unreported in the English-language press -- the company has already closed its Barcelona and Gothenburg offices, events confirmed by Gamasutra sources. Furthermore, the company's main Stockholm office may also be in jeopardy. Sources indicated to Gamasutra that employees have apparently been told not to show up for work, and the company may be undergoing some kind of closing or bankruptcy procedure. The company saw a considerable rise in the last few years. Though it was founded in 1997, it was not until it was given responsibility for the PC versions of the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games that GRIN started becoming more widely-known as a company. Since then, it has opened additional locations and attracted an increasing number of development deals from major publishers before running into trouble earlier this year. Interestingly, fellow Stockholm-based studio Fatshark today announced the multiplayer shooter Lead & Gold - Gangs of the Wild West; Fatshark uses GRIN's Diesel engine, and GRIN is a stakeholder in the company.
Gamasutra is following up with GRIN representatives and will update if new information is received."
Sadly, this is a great example of the cut-throat world of game development. Go big or go home. We could analyze the reasons why Bionic Commando didn't sell, reasons we have talked about before, but at the end of the day it all depends on the sales.
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway
It's really a shame since I enjoyed Bionic Comando: Rearmed alot (I never played the original). What obviously didn't help was the fact that their three major releases for that year were two movie based games (one of an older movie and another of a poorly received movie) and a remake of a game with a name only familiar to long time gamers.
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway "
Story aside, it was a well-made, sequel-worthy game with a few flaws. I don't think the spoilertastic reason you cite had anything to do with poor sales.
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway "
Story aside, it was a well-made, sequel-worthy game with a few flaws. I don't think the spoilertastic reason you cite had anything to do with poor sales. "
if it did not have such god awful story it may have sold better
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway "
Story aside, it was a well-made, sequel-worthy game with a few flaws. I don't think the spoilertastic reason you cite had anything to do with poor sales. "
if it did not have such god awful story it may have sold better "
If games sold on story alone, Halo, Gears of War, Mario... fuck, practically every single video game in existence would have tanked. Get your head out of your ass and stop trying to throw around the huge spoiler of the game as if it somehow had anything to do with the fact that an incredibly poorly marketed game tanked.
Oh, and by the way, saying "LOL LOL LOL THE GAME SUCKS BECAUSE YOUR ARM IS YOUR WIFE" makes you sound like a completely uneducated idiot who has never played the game and therefore shouldn't really be saying anything about the quality of it.
Rearmed is one of my favorite games of 08, so it was a bummer to see them put out three financial/critical duds this year. It really put a bad taste in my mouth concerning them as well. It was basically the Sonic Team trajectory sped up to a 9 month span. They came onto my radar with a bang, disappeared for a bit, and entered the new year with crap, crap, and crap.
Also, I never particularly enjoyed listening to them on the Bombcast. I'm gonna be that guy.
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway "
Story aside, it was a well-made, sequel-worthy game with a few flaws. I don't think the spoilertastic reason you cite had anything to do with poor sales. "
if it did not have such god awful story it may have sold better "
If games sold on story alone, Halo, Gears of War, Mario... fuck, practically every single video game in existence would have tanked. Get your head out of your ass and stop trying to throw around the huge spoiler of the game as if it somehow had anything to do with the fact that an incredibly poorly marketed game tanked. Oh, and by the way, saying "LOL LOL LOL THE GAME SUCKS BECAUSE YOUR ARM IS YOUR WIFE" makes you sound like a completely uneducated idiot who has never played the game and therefore shouldn't really be saying anything about the quality of it. "
sorry I beat the game like 2 weeks ago and thought i was complete shit so I guess I'm sorry for having good taste in games?
" Rearmed is one of my favorite games of 08, so it was a bummer to see them put out three financial/critical duds this year. It really put a bad taste in my mouth concerning them as well. It was basically the Sonic Team trajectory sped up to a 9 month span. They came onto my radar with a bang, disappeared for a bit, and entered the new year with crap, crap, and crap.
Also, I never particularly enjoyed listening to them on the Bombcast. I'm gonna be that guy. "
" Oh, and by the way, saying "LOL LOL LOL THE GAME SUCKS BECAUSE YOUR ARM IS YOUR WIFE" makes you sound like a completely uneducated idiot who has never played the game and therefore shouldn't really be saying anything about the quality of it. "
I was going to mention this too. The wife/arm thing has been raised on a couple of podcasts recently, and seems to be the internet whipping boy du jour.
Bionic Commando Rearmed should be enough reason for those guys to still be around for another game or two. What about all the other developers who release nothing, but pure shit games? Why are they able to continue to make GI Joe level crap? But I guess that's life...
@trophyhunter: It's called an opinion. It is not called a fact.
Meh. I really liked BC:R, but otherwise I could care less about what GRIN put out. I did like it when Ulf and Gunnar were on the Bombcast though. That episode is certainly in my top 15.
Well if there is one thing that I can say about GRIN as a developer is that they always had interesting ideas, it's just that those ideas were never really implemented perfectly. Wanted and Bionic Commando had the potential to be great it's just that they weren't executed very well. For Wanted the game was too short and the bullet curving gameplay felt a little like a throw away. For Bionic Commando the swinging mechanic was good, once you got use to it, it's just that everything else was either janky or poorly thought out (and I include the story in the latter).
Even if GRIN's last two outings were not that successful, I liked the guys who came on the Bombcast and they seemed to be down-to-earth, nice people. It would a shame not to have any of them again.
@trophyhunter: Also, thanks for that spoiler dude. For someone who has been wanting to play the game but is waiting for a big price drop (which should happen soon) and has been dodging the internet spoilers, that is really appreciated. Congratulations.
" Even if GRIN's last two outings were not that successful, I liked the guys who came on the Bombcast and they seemed to be down-to-earth, nice people. It would a shame not to have any of them again.
@trophyhunter: Also, thanks for that spoiler dude. For someone who has been wanting to play the game but is waiting for a big price drop (which should happen soon) and has been dodging the internet spoilers, that is really appreciated. Congratulations. "
its been 20 bucks for two months and really that does not spoil the story because there is no story and that has no bearing on it
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway "
He said Bionic Commando Rearmed dumbass. Bionic Commando Rearmed is a great remake of the original game. Also we all get the wifearm twist was dumb as fuck but, that does not mean you have to keep posting that.
" Well if there is one thing that I can say about GRIN as a developer is that they always had interesting ideas, it's just that those ideas were never really implemented perfectly. Wanted and Bionic Commando had the potential to be great it's just that they weren't executed very well. For Wanted the game was too short and the bullet curving gameplay felt a little like a throw away. For Bionic Commando the swinging mechanic was good, once you got use to it, it's just that everything else was either janky or poorly thought out (and I include the story in the latter). "
how can they have interesting ideas when all the games they've made have been someone else's idea BC was capcom's idea wanted was a movie and comic book terminator salvation was a movie first that's like saying a movie based on a book is original
" @trophyhunter: Bionic Commando Rearmed got good reviews and some of their early stuff did to. So they weren't all crap. And nice spoiler there to. "
trust me anyone who was going to play it has already and who would believe something as unbelievably stupid as the reason your wife is missing is because she is your bionic arm that is not organic in anyway "
He said Bionic Commando Rearmed dumbass. Bionic Commando Rearmed is a great remake of the original game. Also we all get the wifearm twist was dumb as fuck but, that does not mean you have to keep posting that. "
well I was addressing the end part of his sentence
" Well if there is one thing that I can say about GRIN as a developer is that they always had interesting ideas, it's just that those ideas were never really implemented perfectly. Wanted and Bionic Commando had the potential to be great it's just that they weren't executed very well. For Wanted the game was too short and the bullet curving gameplay felt a little like a throw away. For Bionic Commando the swinging mechanic was good, once you got use to it, it's just that everything else was either janky or poorly thought out (and I include the story in the latter). "
how can they have interesting ideas when all the games they've made have been someone else's idea BC was capcom's idea wanted was a movie and comic book terminator salvation was a movie first that's like saying a movie based on a book is original "
You obviously hate GRIN with a passion. I have no idea why. You can have original ideas in something that is based on someone else's original property.
I'm not really trolling I'm just saying that grin is almost dead because they make bad games that no one bought which are facts if I wanted to troll I'd bring up how much I hate valve and think they can't make a good game to save their lives
It's really sad to see GRIN go, I have a couple of friends who where forced to go in the first round of lay-offs. I don't know people in the management/design areas, but the people working with content is very, very skilled in what they do. Top talent all around.
I just hope some of them get together and start new companies, Sweden needs them! I know of one group who are going to try their wings, check them out at http://www.outbreakstudios.se/, not much there at the moment though.
It must have been so weird for the Giant Bomb staff to have these guys visit only to have their games suck ass. Yeah Wanted was definitely better than the movie, and did some interesting new stuff with the 3rd Person shooter genre. I just won't forgive the shit they pulled with how badly they fucked up Terminator Salvation the game. Fuck, seriously, why cant anyone make a game as memorable as the Arcade game?
" Even if GRIN's last two outings were not that successful, I liked the guys who came on the Bombcast and they seemed to be down-to-earth, nice people. It would a shame not to have any of them again.
@trophyhunter: Also, thanks for that spoiler dude. For someone who has been wanting to play the game but is waiting for a big price drop (which should happen soon) and has been dodging the internet spoilers, that is really appreciated. Congratulations. "
Once you get behind the mask of the name, a lot of devs seem like awesome people. I've had some visits with devs before, particularly the Firaxis folks, and it's really not hard to find at least one person there who generally cares about what the gamer is getting from them. It really sucks to be seeing some companies tanking after getting unlucky or just not happening to put something out that captured the consumers.
Not too thrilled about the spolier either, as I haven't played it either. Doesnt' sound too bad to me though, it could even be cool if it were spun a particular way. It's not far off from some of the absolutely crazy stuff that the Final Fantasy franchise has pulled. In seven, no less.
@trophyhunter:
You act like it's impossible to take a pre-existing world and concept and do something interesting with it, which is... not even close to true. It happens all the time. Just because you're making your story conform with the pre-established ways that that world exists and works doesn't mean that you can't do something unique with it. Most Superheroes "exist" in the same world, yet they're all (relatively) unique from one another, and the superhero world is most commonly based on our own.
It's really not hard to find, and condemning them for a few games is a terrible view, since there are some companies who produce mostly bullshit. Start a thread about any of them. G.I. Joe just came out. Get busy.
" Even if GRIN's last two outings were not that successful, I liked the guys who came on the Bombcast and they seemed to be down-to-earth, nice people. It would a shame not to have any of them again.
@trophyhunter: Also, thanks for that spoiler dude. For someone who has been wanting to play the game but is waiting for a big price drop (which should happen soon) and has been dodging the internet spoilers, that is really appreciated. Congratulations. "
Once you get behind the mask of the name, a lot of devs seem like awesome people. I've had some visits with devs before, particularly the Firaxis folks, and it's really not hard to find at least one person there who generally cares about what the gamer is getting from them. It really sucks to be seeing some companies tanking after getting unlucky or just not happening to put something out that captured the consumers. Not too thrilled about the spolier either, as I haven't played it either. Doesnt' sound too bad to me though, it could even be cool if it were spun a particular way. It's not far off from some of the absolutely crazy stuff that the Final Fantasy franchise has pulled. In seven, no less. "
Yeah, I heard the ending was mad crazy and stupid, so yeah it is a dumb twist. Still, I would have LIKED to play it myself and find out but, oh well, this is the Internet I guess.
" Even if GRIN's last two outings were not that successful, I liked the guys who came on the Bombcast and they seemed to be down-to-earth, nice people. It would a shame not to have any of them again.
@trophyhunter: Also, thanks for that spoiler dude. For someone who has been wanting to play the game but is waiting for a big price drop (which should happen soon) and has been dodging the internet spoilers, that is really appreciated. Congratulations. "
Once you get behind the mask of the name, a lot of devs seem like awesome people. I've had some visits with devs before, particularly the Firaxis folks, and it's really not hard to find at least one person there who generally cares about what the gamer is getting from them. It really sucks to be seeing some companies tanking after getting unlucky or just not happening to put something out that captured the consumers. Not too thrilled about the spolier either, as I haven't played it either. Doesnt' sound too bad to me though, it could even be cool if it were spun a particular way. It's not far off from some of the absolutely crazy stuff that the Final Fantasy franchise has pulled. In seven, no less. "
Luckily Otzlowe, to me that wasn't really the only big event of the story. There are some other twist that are quiet cool. I enjoyed the story. I've seen worse.
@trophyhunter: Thanks man, I was coming on this thread to contribute to the conversation and you've just crapped up Bionic Commando which I was going to get next week with your completely unnecessary spoiler, nice going.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along
with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely
increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.
Comment and Save
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other
Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll
send you an email once approved.
Log in to comment