Studio Killers
Every developer makes a bad game from time to time. The last game they make is also, usually, a real killer.
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DNF took not only a developer and publisher with it, but also killed the developer that formed afterwards to try to finish it. Sadly no one realized that the reason it was taking them so long to make a compelling game was because it could never be a compelling game.
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Factor 5 was one of the shining champions of the Nintendo banner, developing 3 excellent flight games and then one awful one that still had amazing co-op levels. Sony poached them to bolster the PS3's first generation library with a LotR style epic fantasy. Whether because of a lack of oversight, a rushed product, or the mandate to control the game exclusively with the SIXAXIS Lair bombed, and took Factor 5 with it.
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Maybe hoping to prove that they could deliver a "message" rather than just a fun time Free Radical made Haze as a condemnation of the growing popularity of military shooters. Unlike with Spec Ops: The Line, however, the press was not on their side, and people just called them out over making a game that wasn't fun. They floundered for years trying to convince publishers to pick up a new Timesplitters until eventually Crytec saved the company.
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GRIN died a death of many cuts, but the biggest gash had to be Fortress. Following in the footsteps of too many Japanese-Western relationships Square Enix chose to abandon their western-game-for-westerners and just not pay anyone involved.
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It wasn't just X-Men Destiny that killed Silicon Knights, but rather the company's unwillingness to put any actual effort into it while spending most of their resources on a sequel to Eternal Darkness. Sadly fanboyish aspirations do not make for good business sense, and this would be the final bridge Silicon Knights would burn.
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I want to believe that Amalur was a scam, because if Schilling honestly thought his company could produce a WoW killer right out the gate then he needed much smarter people advising him. Ultimately the side project to the MMO, Reckoning, will be the only part of their grand money-hole that would see the light of day. The released game's success or failure were ultimately unimportant and could have done nothing to worsen nor stem the bleeding of the doomed project.
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Working Designs died a death of many cuts, but this one was the extending pipe straight to the heart. WD poured man-hours and dollars into this game it would never get back, all in an attempt to make this bad game less bad. SCEA said they would never allow it to be released, and it looks like they were right.
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