Jump to content

Evil Genius


The_Slink

Recommended Posts

  • 5 months later...

Sad News;

Elixir Studios Shuts Down

Elixir Studios, known for Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius, has decided to cease operations. The U.K.-based developer explained that they had a key project cancelled by a major U.S. publisher, but that market conditions and a "risk-averse publishing climate" were the primary reasons to close down. It's become increasingly hard for independent developers with original IP to survive.

Short, Impactful History

Elixir was founded in 1998, and eventually grew to employ over 60. Before closing, the studio had two full development teams, as well as an in-house R&D group that specialized in creating proprietary graphics and AI technologies.

The company's first title was Republic: The Revolution published by Eidos in Q3 2003. Their second title, Evil Genius, was released fall 2004. Evil Genius won numerous awards for its creativity at E3 2004, including 'Most Innovative Design' from IGN, and nominations for Best Strategy and Most Original Design in the Official E3 Awards.

Full Story

It's ironic that a game receives lots of attention and praise, yet its developer's have barely got their head above water. It seems that security for developers is to be owned by their publishers. Unfortunately, with that job security comes a handover of control and direction.

I'm not just talking about Ubi/GR here, because back in '98, Virgin was the publisher of C&C. No longer connected to Richard Branson, Virgin was owned by Viacom.

That same year, EA bought Westwood Studios, the developers of C&C, whilst it was developing C&C Tiberian Sun. Overnight, Virgin lost its biggest franchise and later that year sold over 40% of its shares to Interplay [Fallout/Baldurs Gate]. Virgin later struggled as a publisher and no longer longer exists. Tiberian Sun was released by EA, and now Westwood no longer exists.

The latest C&C title, Generals, was developed by EALA.

DS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...