10 Game Studios That DIDN'T DESERVE To Be Closed

10 Game Studios That Didn’t Deserve to Be Closed

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we're taking a look at the 10 video game studios that we wish we didn't lose.

Visceral Games

Visceral Games was once an incredibly successful studio. Formerly known as EA Redwood Shores, Visceral was widely known for developing the "Dead Space" franchise. Unfortunately, with the release of "Dead Space 3", the company's future started to look bleak. EA meddled with the game mid-development, demanding Visceral incorporate cooperative multiplayer and microtransactions. Even after the negative reception to that, Visceral Games still had an ace up its sleeve in the form of "Star Wars Ragtag". Alas, that ace was never put in play. EA's executives cooked up a wild theory that single-player games were dying, thus deeming "Star Wars Ragtag" a fruitless endeavor in their eyes. And so, Visceral Games was shut down in October 2017. EA went on to publish "Star Wars Battlefront II" shortly after, and received massive backlash for the game's monetization. In 2019, the company published "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order", a single-player game that would wind up selling more than ten million copies within five months after launch.

Lionhead Studios

Even when founder Peter Molyneux was overpromising on the next "Fable" game, it was hard to hate on Lionhead Studios and their acclaimed RPG franchise. "Fable" did have a magic to it in how you could interact with NPCs and shape your adventure to become Albion's hero or villain. That's why so many were pained in 2016 when Microsoft decided to shut the studio down, right in the middle of Lionhead's next game, an online multiplayer spin-off of "Fable". Many factors played into Lionhead's closure from then-recent flops like "Fable: The Journey" for Kinect to the rapid decline in Xbox One sales. However, fans and former staff will point to how Microsoft forced the studio to work on Kinect before abandoning that, and then forcing Lionhead to develop a live service game. "Fable Legends" supposedly cost Microsoft roughly seventy-five million dollars during its four-year development.

United Front Games

If you’ve heard of United Front Games, it’s probably because someone told you how great of a game “Sleeping Dogs” is. What they may not have told you is that the studio that made it is no longer around. United Front Games was one of many studios that never got the attention and praise it deserved. From the highly customizable kart racer “ModNation Racers” to the captivating story of “Sleeping Dogs”, United Front Games was pumping out quality titles that very, very few people ever bought. In a desperate attempt to catch the wave of online gaming popularity in the mid-2010’s, UFG pivoted to two online projects, both of which were met with middling to negative receptions from players who participated in their respective betas. One of these games, “Smash+Grab”, would launch in 2016, but a couple weeks later, UFG announced their closure. In other words, they had untapped potential that publishers allowed to wither away.

LucasArts & Disney Interactive

Once upon a time, these two subsidiaries of media powerhouses dominated the gaming space. Throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s, LucasArts was known for its point-&-click gems on PC like “Sam & Max” and “Grim Fandango”, along with its vast assortment of “Star Wars” games. Disney Interactive, on the other hand, was known for publishing and/or co-developing various games based on Disney IP, ranging from tie-ins like “A Bug’s Life” and “The Incredibles” to original works like “Kingdom Hearts” and “Epic Mickey”. Unfortunately, the decline in popularity of movie tie-ins came swiftly in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s. When Disney bought LucasFilm in 2012, the conglomerate closed down LucasArts’ internal development teams, keeping only enough staff to handle legalities and licensing. Disney Interactive was allowed to stick around until “Disney Infinity” continuously failed to catch on, prompting Disney to close their gaming division in 2016. LucasArts continues to exist only as a license holder working with other gaming companies like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. Disney Interactive has been replaced with Disney Electronic Content, a successor to the company but with a heavier focus on mobile and live service gaming.

Free Radical Design

Poor FRD. Born from former Rare developers who worked on “GoldenEye 007” and “Perfect Dark”, Free Radical Design made a name for itself in the early 2000’s for the “TimeSplitters” games. Unfortunately, its last game, “Haze”, was such a colossal failure that it landed the studio in serious financial turmoil. It found a second life when it was sold to Crytek in 2009, but even that didn’t last long as Crytek failed to pay the staff on time, causing an internal war between the two. Free Radical Design would shut down in 2014 with almost all of its assets being sold to Koch Media. Now, here’s where things get super messed up. In 2018, Koch Media was bought by Embracer Group, who then announced in 2021 that they were resurrecting Free Radical Design and rehiring the staff to work on a new “TimeSplitters” game. Two years later, Embracer Group found itself in deep financial trouble as it placed too many bets on games like “Saints Row” that failed to rake in profits. In a desperate attempt to downsize and restructure, Embracer Group would shut down Free Radical Design at the tail end of 2023.

Neversoft
Many will forever remember Neversoft as the geniuses behind “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” and the short-lived “Tony Hawk’s Underground” series. But what could have happened to cause such a revered studio to close? Well, after the success of “Guitar Hero III”, Activision Blizzard pushed Neversoft to develop more and more “Guitar Hero” games to capitalize on the IP’s success. Between 2008 and 2010, Neversoft belted out FIVE whole “Guitar Hero” games, none of which were well-liked by fans. The last “Guitar Hero” game, “Warriors of Rock”, miserably flopped in sales, which spelled doom for Neversoft. Activision would cease all efforts on the IP in 2010 and wound up having Neversoft absorbed into Infinity Ward. Basically, more fuel for the “Call of Duty” bonfire.

Pandemic Studios

Whereas many studios on our list at least had opportunities to impress, Pandemic had absolutely zero control over its fate. Many of us fondly remember Pandemic for its work on “Destroy All Humans”, the original “Star Wars Battlefront” games, the “Mercenaries” games, and the often forgotten 2009 gem “The Saboteur”. With such a stellar portfolio, how could this studio have perished so suddenly? Well, Electronic Arts happened. In 2007, EA bought VG Holding Corp, the parent company of both Pandemic Studios and BioWare. Shortly after in February 2009, EA swiftly began cutting jobs with Pandemic being almost completely wiped by the end of the year. Before they knew it, Pandemic consisted of just thirty-five staff members, all of which were soon absorbed into EA Los Angeles as they winded down on “The Saboteur’s” development. Thankfully, much of the staff would bounce back and land jobs at other studios, some of which wound up at Respawn Entertainment, another EA-owned game studio.

AlphaDream

Very rarely do you ever hear about Nintendo studios, let alone their external partners, getting shuttered. AlphaDream was one of those incredibly rare cases, and it was a super upsetting one. Nintendo fans would know AlphaDream as the “Mario & Luigi” studio, the brains behind “Superstar Saga”, “Bowser’s Inside Story”, and the rest of the franchise. Unfortunately, fatigue for the IP kicked in during the 2010’s. “Dream Team” didn’t interest the fans, and “Paper Jam” felt like a half-baked crossover with “Paper Mario”. Despite the exceptional remakes of “Superstar Saga” and “Bowser’s Inside Story” in 2017 and 2019, AlphaDream’s efforts were overshadowed by the Switch’s explosive success during those years. Folks simply didn’t want to play anymore 3DS games. AlphaDream soon found themselves filing for bankruptcy in late 2019 shortly after the release of their first Switch game, “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020” which they co-developed alongside SEGA and numerous other studios.

Japan Studio

In early 2021, trouble was brewing within PlayStation. Unbeknownst to most folks, PlayStation’s Japanese and Western branches were in a tumultuous war with each other, fighting for power over what direction to take the PlayStation brand. If you haven’t noticed from the platform holder’s exclusives, the Western branches won. As a result, Sony shutdown Japan Studio, one of its original first-party studios going all the way back to the PS1. Hardcore PlayStation fans will recognize Japan Studio as the masterminds behind Sony’s more experimental titles like “PaRappa the Rapper”, the “Patapon” series, the “LocoRoco” series, “Ape Escape”, “The Legend of Dragoon”, and the “Gravity Rush” games. Anyways, hope everyone’s enjoying their cinematic open world action RPGs.

Tango Gameworks

The closure of Tango Gameworks will forever be remembered as one of Microsoft’s greatest failures, right up there with mishandling Lionhead Studios. Founded by “Resident Evil” creator Shinji Mikami, Tango Gameworks quickly found some financial security after being bought by Bethesda just months after beginning operations. Tango Gameworks soon made a name for itself with “The Evil Within” series. But when Microsoft acquired Bethesda in 2021, things started looking rocky. “Ghostwire: Tokyo” failed to catch the public’s attention in 2022, yet “Hi-Fi Rush” saw almost universal praise in 2023, winning a handful of awards. Alas, it wasn’t enough. Between the game’s shadow drop and its immediate availability on Xbox Game Pass, one can safely assume “Hi-Fi Rush” failed to generate enough sales, as Microsoft only ever talked about how many people played it yet never stated how many copies were sold. Following Microsoft’s monumental acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, Tango Gameworks was told to close its doors in May 2024. President of Xbox Sarah Bond states this was to consolidate and to “invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP”... yet they chose to close a studio that delivered a new IP and won several awards in the process. Makes sense.

Which game studio do you miss the most? Share the love for these studios down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday.