Sega Racing Studio shut down
In an extreme case of “Game Over, Yeahhhhhh” it has been revealed that Sega has closed their UK based Sega’s Racing Studio. The only game to come out of the studio was Sega Rally which was released back in September of last year. It was once thought the studio would go on to make more racing titles for the publisher, such as Daytona, Daytona, and possibly Daytona
“Regrettably SEGA today announced that it is to commence consultation with a view to the unfortunate closure of the SEGA Racing Studio in Birmingham, UK,” comments a statement from Sega. “The decision is part of a review of SEGA’s Western Development Studios to ensure that each studio is a profitable entity in its own right, and unfortunately the SEGA Racing Studio’s five year plan would not result in a successful return for the SEGA business moving forward.”
The studio was formed by recruiting talent from other major British developers such as Rockstar, Rare, Codemasters and Criterion Games. The head of the studio, Guy Wilday, also brought experience from his work on the older Colin McRae Rally titles from a few years back. This talent certainly shined through in Sega Rally which we loved in our review from last year.
7 comments ↓
William Cox
April 9th, 2008
You what?
Thomas
April 9th, 2008
What, where?
William Cox
April 9th, 2008
Sorry! Been away for the weekend and this was the first I’d heard about it.
Ben
April 9th, 2008
Another dark day in the UK games industry.
Thomas
April 9th, 2008
The UK still has Codemasters, Black Rock, Bizarre Creations, Eutechnyx, Evolution, Reflections, Sony Liverpool and Criterion, so not all is bad! They all do racers too!
Rare, Rockstar, and loads of others are there to if you expand beyond just racers!
William Cox
April 9th, 2008
Exactly, I don’t think the UK games industry is doing too badly at all.
The Racing Studio was a really small outfit compared to others working in the genre. Although it didn’t live up to the original plans Sega Rally was a decent game all things considered. Looking at some of the planned games it was obvious they were on the wrong track, with no money likely to be made shutting them down was the sensible choice.
Imrie
April 16th, 2008
and lionhead, we all love lionhead