Sony closes Wipeout studio

Well, there goes my plan to buy a PS4.

Hate to say it, but they have not been stepping up to the plate in recent years. Its been wipeout, wipeout, and more wipeout. In the last decade they've put out roughly 20 games, and appx. 75% of them were either a Wipeout or Formula One game. Other masterpieces include SingStar: The Wiggles, Cliff Diver, Table Soccer, and Fireworks.  In the last 6 years they've only contributed 2 games for the ps3.

It's never good to see a studio closed, but perhaps they should've been a bit more ambitious and they wouldn't be in this position. I don't blame Sony at all, their backing is better placed elsewhere.

Wipeout and Wipeout XL. How I miss those days! Along with Destruction Derby, these were PSX must haves!

It's always a shame when a studio gets shut down, but for it to be one that's contributed so much over the years; that really hurts. At the end of the day I suppose a sentimental business is a doomed business. (I feel dirty just writing those words.) Best of luck to all those at Sony Liverpool.

Such a shame since they've been around for so long. 

Sony shut it down because its not a call of duty clone studio house.

How very, very sad..... I have played their games since the beginning. I can still see the beautiful graphics of the Owl perched on the Psygnosis letters that came with their old loading screens..... good times. I hope all the affected staff can find somewhere else and have another 30 years of success.

That is terrible.

Sad sad day. Psygnosis were amazing.

The studio may be closing but there's still no word on the staff actually going.. and no-one has actually said that these projects are 'cancelled'.

Hopefully it's just a re-shuffle of resources, Wipeout is one of Sony's flagship titles and the Liverpool studio has incredible talent.

Usually these types of articles announce "staff laid off..." but thankfully there's nothing about that here.  I'll remain optimistic :)

I love Wipeout!! WHY!? *cries*

G-Police, *sniff*, Colony Wars *Sob* *Sob* Wipeout *Sniff*

Thanks for some great games guys. You'll be missed.

Oh, Liverpool, you were the first kick-ass team I played with in FIFA. I will never forget you. Champions league champions. I know it's the Premiere league, but I think they also call it the Champions league. Anyway, poor Liverpool.

The first game I ever played by Psygnosis was a colorful side-scroller called Baal for the Commodore 64. The gameplay wasn't exactly ground-breaking, but the graphics were more elaborate and more creative than anything I'd seen before.

Excellent visuals have pretty much marked all succeeding games by this developer. Driving games like Wipeout are certainly fine, but driving isn't really what this studio was all about. I hope we haven't heard the last from this company.....

Closing a studio thats provided you with countless ne IP's (most of which apart from Wipeout fell into disuse) and a key part of the Playstation's brand success were reduced to a Formula 1 studio last gen which was a shame.

This gen, they produced some great wipeout games, and as i said one of the few sony studios with a rich history and commitment to make a good game.Yet studios like team ICO who are probably haemmorhaging money and historically never that profitable and never work to time scale manage to survive :S Sure team Ico is great but from a buisness standpoint they are horribly managed.

WOW I didn't see this coming dang Sony you're closing one best studio of the game industry and to the studio that made the game wipeout hope you guys find another job in game industry.

Sony Chairman: "Changes needed to be made to remain viable in this increasingly competitive marketplace."

Sith spy working for Microsoft: *hand gesture* "All we need to do is close one of our best studios..."

Sony Chairman: "All we need to do is close one of our best studios..." 

I got the very first Psygnosis Game. Brataccas, I think it was called. Kyle lives. There were cameras everywhere, spying on the player. It wasn't that great. Shadow of The Beast was the game that wowed everybody

WOW!!!

And I thought there was too LITTLE wipeout in the world.

Sad. I don't think they ever made a bad game. Great studio.

Sad day for gaming when another legendary studio ceases to exist, hoping their legacy will live on in the current generation is unlikely, probably just get the crap milked out of everything they ever created.

Hopefully the people losing their jobs will get good ones elsewhere.

That Wipeout game for Vita is awesome-too bad.

Sony still thinks it's 1990 and they're at the top of the food chain. They think they can get away with offering a half-assed product at a premium price. That just ain't the case anymore. There's other companies offering better products for cheaper prices. Sony needs to humble themselves and realize they're not the pinnacle of the electronics world anymore. But Sony lives in the past and it's this type of thinking that's gonna be their downfall.

That's depressing. WipeOut is my favourite racing series. Hopefully those that have been moved get to continue to use their incredible racing-game-design in new projects. I wish them all well.

I also hope this isn't a precident to come for other UK-based studios. After seeing many studios close their doors in Japan and the US, I hope it doesn't happen to the UK and Europe as well

This game caused harm to my siblings in the PS1 days cause it SUCKED

That's sad news. They have made some fantastic games. I think Sony are making a mistake and I hope all the staff get properly compensated.

Another day, another Sony studio closing.  I've lost faith in Sony for a while and this is another reason why I'm skeptical about buying another Sony product. I know times are tough but Sony doesn't seem to know what to do with itself and seems like it's trying to rely on their old strategy and not evolving.  They're starting to become the Blackberry equivalent to the gaming room.

So there goes the chance for another Colony Wars game(unless Sony gets someone else to do it).

The industry seems to be struggling lately.  Since it seems like if a game doesn't have "football" or "Call of Duty" in the title, it doesn't sell that well.  Don't know if it's just everyone is burned out on video games, economy still in the crapper or what.  Seems like Sony is just making hard choices like other companies have had to do lately.  Although it's a shame to see this studio shuttered after all the fantastic games they've developed.

Finally the F-Zero Rip off is gone!

They were awesome before Sony bought them and ruined them.

For years I have been wanting  a new Gpolice with todays hardware but thats looking worse than ever now

Some great memories and great gaming days with Psygnosis and the fantastic machine that was the Amiga,"Walker" was a firm favourite of mine and still love it now,Shame I never finished "Blood Money" man that game was hard! ..sad to see but I salute the studio?s contributions to video gaming and hope the guys move on to find work elsewhere in the industry.

And I thought Nintendo was bad. 

It's really unfortunate, but sadly the market just doesn't seem attracted to their types of games....although they get great scores, it's just a matter of sales not panning out. I was worried this was going to happen years ago actually.