• THQ Closes Homefront Developer Kaos Studios

        Just a few days ago, THQ announced that their cinematic first-person shooter Homefront had shipped 2.6 million units, and the future of the franchise was looking bright. It may come as a bit of a shock, then, that the studio has announced the closing of Homefront and Frontlines developer Kaos Studios, and that Homefront 2 will be developed by a newly expanded THQ Montreal.

        Kaos Studios was one of New York City's only major development studios. America's largest city has long been considered unfriendly to game development due to high overhead and a relatively low concentration of experienced game developers. It is unclear if these considerations were factors in THQ's decision to shift resources to Canada's booming game development capitol. THQ has said Kaos employees would likely be given the opportunity to move to the Montreal studio, supporting the notion that location concerns were the primary motivator for the studio's closure rather than the quality of the production itself.

        Kaos Studios will be best remembered for their excellent multiplayer experiences, dating back to Desert Combat and including the excellent online component of Homefront. Hopefully its talented staff land safely and keep what little game industry the city has alive.
        Comments 9 Comments
        1. YellerDog's Avatar
          YellerDog -
          Who?
        1. Frogacuda's Avatar
          Frogacuda -
          The who is in the headline, ffs.
        1. Chux's Avatar
          Chux -
          Don't spend so much on marketing for a shitty game that will never make it back, and you can stay in business longer.

          JUST SAYIN.
        1. Diff-chan's Avatar
          Diff-chan -
          In all seriousness, we're losing good, modern, high-tech jobs to Canada because Canada is investing money to attract those jobs while we pretend to care about the deficit.
        1. Frogacuda's Avatar
          Frogacuda -
          Quote Originally Posted by Chux View Post
          Don't spend so much on marketing for a shitty game that will never make it back, and you can stay in business longer.

          JUST SAYIN.
          They made a statement like last week talking about how the game was profitable and they want to do a sequel.
          Quote Originally Posted by Diff-chan View Post
          In all seriousness, we're losing good, modern, high-tech jobs to Canada because Canada is investing money to attract those jobs while we pretend to care about the deficit.
          This is what really struck me, too. Because I don't think this was about Homefront being a commercial disappointment, it's about people don't want to make games in New York, they want to make them in Canada instead.
        1. Chux's Avatar
          Chux -
          Quote Originally Posted by Frogacuda View Post
          They made a statement like last week talking about how the game was profitable and they want to do a sequel.
          Who bought it? I have a full friends list on xbl and a good amount on steam and I haven't seen anybody playing it.

          The moogles don't count since they play everything.
        1. Frogacuda's Avatar
          Frogacuda -
          I dunno, I played it on PS3. I also liked it. The campaign is super short but worth playing, and the multiplayer is genuinely very good. Really fast and fun, but not a simple deathmatch-fest.

          I just added an edit to the article. THQ said that Kaos employees would likely be offered the opportunity to relocate to Canada, which pretty much confirms my initial speculation that this was more about New York than the product.
        1. Chux's Avatar
          Chux -
          Quote Originally Posted by Frogacuda View Post
          I dunno, I played it on PS3. I also liked it. The campaign is super short but worth playing, and the multiplayer is genuinely very good. Really fast and fun, but not a simple deathmatch-fest.
          Well then they must have improved it heavily from the alpha and beta that I played. (The beta ran into feb, and I know the game wasn't that much further out).
        1. turbotim3's Avatar
          turbotim3 -
          as long people support Metacritic and the current videogame journalists review standard this studio and many more will close, because after all this game got like an 80 and according to Metacritic thats in the orange. to me thats pathetic!! the fact that people think thats a bad score is the reason alot of studios are choosing to play it safe instead of taking chances and thinking outside the box. We should be boycotting Metacritic and videogame media outlets that rate games using a number or letter scale
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