PS3 News: Starhawk Developer Lays Off 24 As Part Of A "Strategic Shift" - PS3 News

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Starhawk Developer Lays Off 24 As Part Of A "Strategic Shift"

Starhawk was a pretty solid title with an inventive, addictive multiplayer element.

But unfortunately, developer Lightbox Interactive is shifting their focus and as such, according to Gamasutra, more than half the team's employees are getting the ax.

Company president Dylan Jobe confirmed that 24 of 45 employees will lose their jobs as of this Friday, and this apparently doesn't have anything to do with lower-than-anticipated Starhawk sales. In fact, it's because they want a "very focused and self-funded team" to bring their next title to iOS devices. If you recall, Lightbox was founded a few years back after Incognito Entertainment (Warhawk) bit the dust; Jobe made the transition and started working on the spiritual successor.

We have no idea what Lightbox is working on for iOS but we kinda don't care. It definitely doesn't fall into our wheelhouse at PSXE.

Related Game(s): Starhawk

Tags: starhawk, lightbox interactive, starhawk developer, starhawk team

10/18/2012 11:22:16 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (23 posts)

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 11:53:30 AM
Reply

That's sad about the jobs and the iOS. Goodbye to another solid developer that falls under the axe of the FPS multiplayer/CoD boom.

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Temjin001
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 12:19:08 PM

mmmh iOS does what Android-dont!

=p

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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 1:56:31 PM

Which is what exactly?

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Ignitus
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 10:05:46 PM

Lol, COD is the devil!!!

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Temjin001
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 12:02:17 PM
Reply

Perhaps Starhawk was a perfect example of a quality multiplayer game being rated down due to a sub-par single player campaign, at least my memory seems to shore up thoughts of critics being heavy handed on it for single player reasons. The game always should've been valued from a multiplayer gamers perspective but perhaps the inclusion of single player of any meaningful kind HURT the ratings thus possibly sales as a result of an arbitrary evaluation system.

Anyway. iOS? Not Vita? what?

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BikerSaint
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 12:10:14 PM

I can't say anything about the MP side of Starhawk as I don't play MP modes, but I I enjoyed the SP side very much so.

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PoopsMcGee
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 2:27:09 PM

I had a blast with the SP as well!

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Simcoe
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 3:24:42 PM

In a series of videos released prior to the game, the developers (could have been even Jobe himself) said that the Single Player campaign was really just a giant tutorial on how to use all the game elements for the multiplayer game.

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PoopsMcGee
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 3:33:12 PM

Be that as it may, it was still a s@#&load of fun IMO.

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bigrailer19
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 12:19:31 PM
Reply

Well thats too bad for the employees. We all know they worked hard on Starhawk.

I thought I heard somewhere Jobe said they wanted to work on games for the iOS in the past but I may be wrong. But seriously? I hate seeing good developers go the way of the phone games, which isn't a terrible business decision considering the amount of people having a device with iOS. But maybe Sony should back them on a project for the Vita!

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Qubex
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 10:33:07 PM

Yes, it is a shame really...

From playing the Beta and also the multi-player demo, I thought it was a solid title and solid engine. There was a lot of stuff going on there and they made the PS3 sing out loud.

It is a real shame.

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

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duomaxwell007
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 12:21:35 PM
Reply

on the bright side santa monica studios will be handling starhawk now so at least online will stay up and hopefully theyll continue to update and ad dlc

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ethird1
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 2:22:58 PM
Reply

This company is not laying off because of COD. It is laying off because Starhawk SUCKS!!!

It is a terrible game and Starhawk destroys it! I am VERY liberal when it comes to FPS. I just love em all. Believe me when I say a FPS sucks, it REALLY REALLY sucks. Hell, I even have Duke Nukem for the PS3 and thought it wasnt quite as bad as people made it out to be!!!

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PoopsMcGee
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 2:29:45 PM

Well bro, Starhawk is a Third Person Shooter so maybe that's why you don't dig it.

xD

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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 2:33:26 PM

Calm down. You don't think the fact that simple twitchy FPS Multiplayer dominates the market doesn't hurt creative multiplayer games like Starhawk? If you think it sucks you should ask yourself what you are comparing it to and why.

Agree with this comment 3 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

telly
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 2:55:30 PM

I recall almost NO marketing around Starhawk, either. Really hope Sony is coming up with new strategies to get the public interested in PS4 games out of the gate.

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Simcoe
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 3:29:15 PM

While Starhawk did have an interesting build mechanic, I still enjoyed Warhawk much more.

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 3:51:56 PM

Tough for anyone to take your opinion seriously when you've obviously never bothered to play Starhawk and get the freakin' genre wrong.

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duomaxwell007
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 5:08:23 PM

not to mention he says "Starhawk destroyed it!" think he meant "Warhawk destroyed it"?

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Qubex
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 10:34:11 PM

I am sorry, I feel you don't have an understanding of what quality is...

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

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BikerSaint
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 11:16:02 AM

As Art Linkletter always used to say....

"Kids sure say the darnest things sometimes"

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Lawless SXE
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 3:01:56 PM
Reply

Never played Starhawk despite a nominal interest in it. Just way too MP-oriented for my blood. Still, this is sad news to hear. They seemed like a pretty talented bunch working on consoles. Hopefully they can turn around and make something to blow us away on phones...

On a slightly more positive note, Nihilistic (the team behind PSMove Heroes, Resistance Burning Skies and COD: BlOps: Declassified) is also moving away from boxed products. No more will they be allowed to abuse our franchises!

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jimmyhandsome
Thursday, October 18, 2012 @ 7:21:46 PM
Reply

Sad day indeed. I loved Starhawk. Still play the MP from time to time.

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