Infinity Blade: Dungeons Goes "On Hold" As Epic Shutters Impossible Studios

It would be pretty funny if UE4 doesn't become the developer's choice seeing how Epic wants to get out of gaming.

Big Huge Games was a great, talented studio. That it was so fragmented, and that this sort of stuff seemingly just keeps happening to some of the people that worked there, just sucks.

That sucks, best of luck to everyone who was at this studio. I can understand them closing it down after a few less than average selling games but 6 months after forming the studio is really no time at all for them to do more than start on the basics of getting the game build, get equipment & staff. Guessing that after the insane success of Gears series, that Epic looks at anything Unreal or anything else done as a failure if it doesn't do anything above Gears in terms of sales. I used to like Epic Games better but now not so much.

Fuck, man. Heart goes out to those people. They just can't catch a break. =(

Encore performance, lets hope this doesn't happen to them again in 6 months.

Sounds like the game wasnt shaping up to be what they expected. Might also be that for financial reasons they cant keep that many studios developing games.

Total speculation here, but I'm really getting the impression that Epic, as we know it, is effectively finished as a creative production company. They sold a huge chunk of their company to a Chinese firm, and then a significant portion of their talent jumped ship.

Fortnight is still in development, and sounds highly promising, but this may end up being free-to-play ala TF2. If true, this will mean maintaining a dedicated support team rather than shifting people over to new development.

Gears of War Judgement will wear the Epic brand, but it is a People Can Fly studio developed game (albeit with significant Epic oversight).

Unreal Engine/UDK may be Epic's primary contribution to gaming in the coming years.

Or maybe this is completely wrong, and they will be announcing a new multi-title triple-A franchise at E3. In any case, Epic is looking like a very different company today than it was a year ago.

Crazy. And Jeff, was that a Chris Rock joke in the sub?

Dang. There is not one bit of this news that I like.

In the parlance of our times, this is some hot bullshit.

If I were to put on my prognosticating hat, this is just a symptom of the greater upheaval that must be going on at Epic. The new management must be looking at the profit margins on game development vs. engine licensing, and saying "fuck game development." That would be the cause of all the big "retirements" and this cancellation.

I'll be surprised if Epic's entire workforce isn't cut down to just engine developers soon.

At least their getting 3 month's of severance pay, but damn.

@punkxblaze: They will come back like Jordan, wearing the 45.....and it won't be to play games with you, Epic. They will aim at you, probably maim you.

Cocksuckers, take one for you team.

@GERALTITUDE said:

Crazy. And Jeff, was that a Chris Rock joke in the sub?

I read it as Encore by Jay-Z. I even quoted the next line in the lyrics. No love for the Hov here, it seems.

@FonkyMucker said:

@punkxblaze: They will come back like Jordan, wearing the 45.....and it won't be to play games with you, Epic. They will aim at you, probably maim you.

Cocksuckers, take one for you team.

THIS!

@IAmWanderlust said:

@FonkyMucker said:

@punkxblaze: They will come back like Jordan, wearing the 45.....and it won't be to play games with you, Epic. They will aim at you, probably maim you.

Cocksuckers, take one for you team.

THIS!

Right after I talk about no love for the Hov, someone else busts out another line. I love you, GB. Never change.

If you show good will to those in need, but force them back in the situation they were just in just a few months later, was there any good will to begin with?

Damn, poor Big Huge just can't catch a break.

Wow that sucks for the big huge guys. It seems like this sort of thing happens way too often in this business. I always wanted to go to school and eventually work on a game but man it has to be super stressful to work in this industry especially if you are an average developer sales wise. Maybe there is something wrong with this studio?

I follow Joe Quadara, the dude who was the lead combat designer on Reckoning and he tweeted this a few hours ago.

Seems like it was pretty unexpected when it came. What a bummer for those guys.

I'd say something about Patrick being the one who's usually delivering the breaking news, but...well...he already broke something...

Since the Infinity Blade franchise have been very successful so far, what makes anyone think this means anything other than that these guys were making a product of too low quality to fit in?

@Example1013 said:

I'd say something about Patrick being the one who's usually delivering the breaking news, but...well...he already broke something...

oh snap!

Failed at that mmo, failed at this.

Sounds like the team is terrible at deadlines etc.

Let me translate this: "We weren't putting out good work at 38 and unsurprisingly we didn't meet the standards of Epic"

Let me translate this: "We weren't putting out good work at 38 and unsurprisingly we didn't meet the standards of Epic"

I wouldn't exactly call Epic a publisher, i thought it was strange at the time for a developer to be setting up another studio for itself, not really something that happens too often.

As I don't own an iDevice, this doesn't really impact me, other than the compassion for the fired folks which DOES suck, but nice Chris Rock reference in the deck, Jeff.

damn I really wanted to play that game soon, looked interesting

@Vinny_Says said:

@jakob187 said:

What the hell? Why hire on a bunch of people and open a studio just to shut it down with no product released? What do they mean it wasn't working out for them? The product was bad? The studio was on an inflated budget? Epic is in trouble?

This is just...weird.

or maybe the guys are the problem, seeing how they went through 2 closures already....

The stuff with 38 Studios wasn't their fault though. 38 was fucked with or without these guys.

@theimmortalbum said:

@GERALTITUDE said:

Crazy. And Jeff, was that a Chris Rock joke in the sub?

I read it as Encore by Jay-Z. I even quoted the next line in the lyrics. No love for the Hov here, it seems.

i did the same thing!: "Grand Opening, Grand closing; god damn your man hov crack the can open again." According to rap genius, apparently jay is referring to the Chris Rock joke, not sure if that is true.

Well crap. I put in my resume to work there last month. Guess I forget about that one.

@jediknight00719 said:

@theimmortalbum said:

@GERALTITUDE said:

Crazy. And Jeff, was that a Chris Rock joke in the sub?

I read it as Encore by Jay-Z. I even quoted the next line in the lyrics. No love for the Hov here, it seems.

i did the same thing!: "Grand Opening, Grand closing; god damn your man hov crack the can open again." According to rap genius, apparently jay is referring to the Chris Rock joke, not sure if that is true.

He must be. Only explanation I'll stand by.

It seemed like it was only yesterday that I heard about Epic picking up some of the developers from 38 Studios... And now they're out of work again. I feel sorry for them.

Just make a new Shadow Complex.

@Example1013 said:

I'd say something about Patrick being the one who's usually delivering the breaking news, but...well...he already broke something...

Your heart?

Those guys just can't catch a break, huh?

I was happy when those guys got picked up by Epic but man getting laid off again in less than a year since last being laid off is saddening.

@Cold_Wolven said:

I was happy when those guys got picked up by Epic but man getting laid off again in less than a year since last being laid off is saddening.

Disheartening, and the reasoning given is just weirdly vague.

@DanTheGamer32: It was more like a KER-UNCH... I'm sorry.

@Mumrik said:

Since the Infinity Blade franchise have been very successful so far, what makes anyone think this means anything other than that these guys were making a product of too low quality to fit in?

The fact that Epic has only had Impossible studios for about 6 months and that's not a lot of time to make progress with a code base they weren't familiar with. I think this move actually lends credence to the theory that Epic is moving away from doing creative content to just being an engine company.

@Lewk1 said:

Failed at that mmo, failed at this.

Sounds like the team is terrible at deadlines etc.

Except this is the team that made Amalur, not the team working on the MMO.

Maybe they would have saved themselves some money on hiring them if they saw how crap Kingdoms of Amalur was.

Not cool. I was just starting to get into Infinity Blade and Dungeons looked cool.

Jeff Gerstmann says "That's Nuts" is enough commentary for me, actually.

video games are dead. long live video games.

Infinity blade 1 and 2 were actually pretty good. I was looking forward to a game with maybe a few new mechanics and a better story...

6 months, no games, and already shut down? That's pretty crazy.

That game looked interesting. Kinda bummed. Hope it works out for those guys

Weird. I remember when they pretty much bought Big Huge Games. Don't know how or who would fund them now considering what has happened. Maybe they will do a Kickstarter? That's the only thing I can think of with allowing them to keep the name/logo. If there was any value there with the team, they would have sold it or the team itself would have gone independent. Also because they were working on an existing IP, they can't really show a game that is ready to go.

God damn, your man Hov cracked the can open again.

@TooWalrus said:

Jeff Gerstmann says "That's Nuts" is enough commentary for me, actually.

Took the words right off my fingers.