Sony Shutters Driveclub and MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios

Sony Worldwide Studios feels like such a disaster this generation. It feels like they have shuttered more studios than release first party titles in the PS4 era.

Motorstorm was an incredibly fun title that had the misfortune of releasing on a platform that it could get no traction on.

RIP Motorstorm

The next Gran Turismo was announced at Sony's Paris games week press conference

This really really bums me out. I loved MotorStorm Pacific Rift and Driveclub - even at launch, and it's only gotten better since. Evo did a fantastic job supporting that game, its Season Pass might be the best one I've ever bought.

Pacific Rift may have been my favorite racing game last gen.

Huge, HUGE bummer.

The Motorstorm games were some of the few bright beacons of arcade racing during last generation and Driveclub has become an absolutely fantastic racing game after the launch issues were sorted out.

Evolution's output has always been a big factor in my PS3 and PS4 purchase decisions and I can't but think that this studio shutdown will bite Sony in the ass.

I loved Motorstorm.

I agree with all the comments about how fantastically Drive Club has evolved. It's a game that I traded in early based on its rocky, half baked launch but picked it again months later on a flash sale. The matured game offeres a compelling suite of online/asynchronous challenges coupled with beautiful graphics and a handling model which offers options for arcade racing fans as well as new control options that cater to sim fans. Not to mention the studio has been incredible about supporting the game with both free and premium dlc content that has kept me hooked for 30-40 hours.

@hassun: the entertainment industry is a real dog eat dog sort of environment. I wasn't a big fan of Driveclub, but Motorstorm and pacific rift were amazing games that would have been great to have on PS4....oh well the wait for a solid PS4 racing game continues. Havent found one yet lol

rip

I wonder if there have been any reports or stats done on what happens after a studio closes. Do they all find jobs again pretty quick? How many stay in the industry?

Dang, big shame. DriveClub is fuckin' amazing and it really sucks they got shut down. I need to get the newest expansions when I can too, great game w/ amazing support.

Loved the Motorstorm games. Pacific Rift was great.

I wish Driveclub had been better. It was ambitious, but characterless and drab. It just couldn't compete with something like Forza. That seemed odd to me considering these were the people that made Motorstorm. Too bad we won't see any more from this talented team. Sad to hear of the layoffs and hope for the best for those affected.

@chilipeppersman: With Gran Turismo being so far up its own ass for so long now, Sony has really been struggling on the racing front.

I'm not a racing game guy, but it's always sad to see redundancies. Hopefully the talent doesn't go to waste.

This is unfortunate news. Motor Storm: Pacific Rift was a fun and underrated title. I was hoping for the series to continue on PS4.

Check out this Motorstorm Pacific Rift clip. That has a wide variety of vehicles and branching paths in the tracks.

Say what you want about Drive Club we know there are talented people there and I hope they all find work.

That really is a shame, seeing as Driveclub is the only really decent driving game on PS4 at this time imho. I feel for the developers and their families, the passion they showed for their work definitely shone through their games.

I feel for anyone who loses their job for something well beyond their control.

However, can't say I'm surprised Sony shuttered that studio. Motorstorm, while a solid hit, didn't move units quite like a top tier studio should. Drive Club was 1000 different types of jenk right off the bat and took almost a year for the PS+ version that was promised to come out. Pretty much had the writing on the wall at that point.

Hope everyone there lands on their feet somewhere better.

@theterriblefamiliar: Supposedly it's incredible now. I've read over and over again that is maybe the best racer on PS4 right now. They worked their asses off to fix everything apparently.

Project Cars is streets ahead of DriveClub.

The first game I ever played on my PS3, in 2007, was Motorstorm. I remember going crazy at how good it looked, and losing it over how detailed the mud tracks were.

Hope the people affected make it out ok.

I don't understand, I know the launch of Drive Club was handled terribly, however this didn't seem to hurt the game overall.

Didn't Sony say it turned a profit, or exceeded their expectations? Drive Club isn't my cup of tea, but I bought it and played through. I loved the Motorstorm games.

Dang, my heart goes out to everyone on the dev team, I do hope they all land on their feet. They have a great resume to offer.

MS should put together a job fair for them lol

I remember when the first motorstorm came out, it was really amazing stuff. Had some good times with the later games, but I feel like it was just the same formula over again. Hope the devs can pick themselves up and work on some great stuff.

I'm not sure what Sony's expectations were. Driving games seem like they are slightly more at the mercy of bubbles of interest creating massive hits than other genres.

Where GT typically hits 5-15 million sales, DC only got to 2 million (sold to consumers, not PS+) by last summer. So if they wanted to get a GT hit, this wasn't it.

Despite being delayed into 2014, I think DC will be collected up into that launch window of the PS4 where a few exclusive games came out that were not for everyone, but for those they did work for they were pretty exceptional and very comfortable with pushing visuals (without scaling back to sub-1080p) while they did it. You can see how reviewers struggled with DC when they started justifying their dislike of the game by imagining faults that did not exist [before the servers died after their review was already written] ("the cars drive on a line and don't react" - something that anyone who spends some hours with the game knows is not true and yet appeared in more than a couple of review texts as justification for why the reviewer didn't enjoy playing, likely coming from a sub-concious post hoc justification for something else the reviewer didn't like but couldn't unpack). I think Killzone: Shadow Fall also falls into this category. At a push, so does inFamous: Second Son/First Light.

Driveclub is the only good racing game featuring licensed vehicles that has ever been made.

Just in case Giant Bomb never posts a follow up Codemasters has hired the staff of Evolution Studios. Seems like a good home for the team.