Starhawk dev lays off half its staff

LightBox Interactive confirms it has laid off 24 staff as part of shift towards making games for iOS devices.

Starhawk developer LightBox Interactive has laid off half its staff as part of a shift toward developing games for iOS devices. Company president Dylan Jobe confirmed to Gamasutra that 24 of the studio's 45 employees will be let go effective Friday.

"The reason for the layoffs is a strategic shift in our product development as we move forward with a very focused and self-funded team to bring our next game to iOS devices," Jobe said.

The studio was founded in 2009 out of the ashes of Incognito Entertainment (Warhawk, Twisted Metal). According to Jobe, LightBox remains "very close" with Sony following the layoffs.

The third-person shooter Starhawk released in May this year to a positive critical reception, but was not one of the month's top ten titles in the United States, according to NPD data.

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He lives in Connecticut, works out of the company's New York City office, and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

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GeneralTrouble 47 pts

One of my favourite games as was Warhawk. A very misunderstood game. It's not COD or any other shooter i.e run, point, shoot. You have to learn how to play it properly. If you jet pack 50 ft up in the air across an open map of course you're going to get owned. That's why on foot you use terrain. Getting base raped? There's a big enough spawn area to be able to break out and failing that there's plenty of skill choices so you spawn with the right weapons to help yourself. I'm not saying raping isn't an issue but there's plenty of ways to get out of it.

There should, however, be an option to set a rank limit on servers so that noobs can find their feet without getting smashed by high level players. It's that sort of behaviour that can put people off. If I join a game with a lot of noobs I'll always try to take it easy and message people with hints and tips. 

It could be a fantastic game if people gave it a real chance. For a "jump in and play" multiplayer it's a good as any.

warhawk-geeby 404 pts

Been part of the Starhawk community for ages, way before the thing was officially announced.  When it did come round I got involved in the private beta looking for bugs and all sorts..

 

Main problem with the game is that half of the time the developers didn't actually listen to the Warhawk veterans, most of the focus was just on nerfing things to make it easier for noobs.

 

The game is good now (finally) but the support just isn't there.  Sony pretty much failed to even advertise the thing which is a major let down as the publisher.

 

Could have been huge but never will be, it's a sad state of affairs.

 

Hearing that the company is going to focus on iOS games just depresses me.. So much talent but shifting to focus on the wrong market.

 

Console gaming is slowly dying :(

Jshaw71 18 pts

5 hour singleplayer, dosen't sound like it helped this game, among some other problems within the multiplayer mode, I think i am glad i didn't jump for this game 

zarathustrax7 20 pts

 Jshaw71 Oh, man. I downloaded free on the playstation plus and haven´t played yet. 

Scorchstar 44 pts

Starhawk Beta was fantastic. It had actual Starhawk-hosted servers, instead of having to play games hosted on PS3s, which made so much lag.

 

Seriously, though. Starhawk is such a good game, but the lack of official servers provided by Lightbox is ridiculous. I have stopped playing Starhawk because I can simply get no kills, and I have a pretty good internet connection.

 

Toysoldier34 437 pts

And the new Call of Duty expansion pack will break record sales once more.

davedrastic 92 pts

24 is actually more than half of 45. 

 

Curse of Sony? Or just not making good enough games? Bit of both perhaps.

 

I was most excited about Warhawk before I got my PS3, and I bought Warhawk as soon as I did. I only ever played it once. Just didnt grab me and i've not had a lack of games since owning the PS3.Battlefield 1943 really filled the gap that I thought Warhawk would - a simple, fun multiplayer PSN game - no need to put in a disk.

 

I'll give Starhawk a go seeing as I have it for free via PSN+ but I'd be surprised if I love it. I do think Sony should look after their developers a bit more though. It seems that Insomniac got a bit of a rough deal - they don't have ownership of their IP and their games never sell as much as they ought to. I don't think the Killzone series has sold as much as it deserves to either.

TheLordHimself 5 pts

I kind of feel bad for not buying it, but at the same time I've had to really cut back on my purchases. I used to buy all my games on day 1, but  I realised that by just waiting a year I can get the game for a quarter of the price. I guess I'm not fully supporting the industry, but nowadays I really can't afford to.

davedrastic 92 pts

 TheLordHimself The games industry won't collapse just because you're not buying new release games. I wouldnt feel bad about it.

 

Yeah i've been buying low cost games for most of this generation. Last year I bought a ton of new release games and I think splashing out on that has quenched my thirst - I just don't feel the need to buy the new games now, or to lust after them so much, I've wanted Max Payne, Lollipop Chainsaw, Saints Row 3, but we know there'll be a Max Payne Gold Collection or such, and that will fall to $20 at some stage. Lollipop will be $20 within a matter of months - Shadows of the Damned dropped in price quickly. Saints Row 3 can be bought for $20 already (although when on special sale).

 

There's a load of games to be released over the next 6 months that I'll want but I'm more than happy to wait as I have so many games to enjoy. I want Far Cry 3 but I've not played Far Cry 2 once yet, and i've owned it for at least 2 years. Assassins Creed 3 looks good - but I owne 1 and 2 and haven't played them yet. Black Ops 2 looks the best but i've just re-purchased MW2 and Black Ops for cheap in the GAME sales and they'll last me a long while.

 

Oh and I have more driving games than I need.

Halloll 274 pts

I liked Starhawk more than bf3. was hoping to see a sequel on the ps4 with unlimited build cap.

nurnberg 577 pts

Starhawk is still an unpolished mess to this day.  The game was a big disappointment.

vadagar1 258 pts

and they will never learn *shakes head*

 

good games make more money in the long run, bad games make more money ONCE

green_scorpion 131 pts

Putting an online pass on a game thats 30% single player is a great way to fail.

SolidTy 1195 pts

I read about this yesterday as well, in GS forums I was linked, lol.

 

Anyways, I did enjoy Starhawk, it was truly a fun MP game. It's a shame more people didn't give it a shot. I think a lot of them would have liked it. These days it seems you have to spend more on the marketing of a new IP than actual development if you want to get modern kids attention.

warhawk-geeby 404 pts

 SolidTy Couldn't agree more, Sony failed spectacularly on the advertisement for this one.  It's a great game but just doesn't have a fanbase.

ghstbstr 72 pts

Starhawk was an impulse buy that I bought on the day of its release, and I was surprised that it was a good game. The single-player campaign has great gameplay and a good story. I was hoping for a sequel.

firedrakes 44 pts

it had good gameplay. but that was about it with starhawk

donmega1 20 pts

ios? really? they lay off these people do they can make a mediocre touch game? i hope the all lose there jobs. this is stupid!

SeAzhrei 32 pts

@donmega1 Kinda harsh but I can't really argue the sentiment.

Aria1368 214 pts

Great game, Bad time, stingy PS3 owner!!!

KingofCabal 166 pts

Starhawk??? Lightbox???? Why have I never heard of these? And why should I care?

a1450358509 64 pts

 KingofCabal B ecause Starhawk is one of the best hidden gems on PS3.

xolivierx 263 pts

@a1450358509 @KingofCabal well, if it's a gem, it's crappy gem...the game now sells at 39$ or is that 29..not sure...anyhow I have the game and it's a crappy multiplayer Game that tries to be a mix between Halo and Unreal tournament...FAIL

warhawk-geeby 404 pts

 xolivierx  a1450358509  KingofCabal Are you sure you've actually played it?  A cowboy western set in space..?  where you can build your own bases..  It's like tower defence meets 3rd person shooter.  That sounds NOTHING like unreal or Halo in the slightest you twonk.

 

Minus the space part.

SonWind744 22 pts

...Oh. Turns out Sony is ending their agreement. Again, too bad.

SonWind744 22 pts

I own this game, and it's actually kind of good. Too bad about the layoffs and shift to iOS devices. Nice to know they're still "'very close' with Sony", though.

Bl4KD37H 174 pts

I was gunna buy this game but heard it sucked bad

shadowhunter0 333 pts

 Bl4KD37H but that fact is it doesn't suck it is a great game and allot of fun

Lucca202 216 pts

They do know that making a successful iOS game depends more on dumb luck than anything else, right?

sleepnsurf 95 pts

People get laid off after a project is done, nothing new. Especially if it was a failure of a game that is Starhawk. 

SergioMX 148 pts

Starhawk was a bit of a disappointment for me. Online is so unbalanced and you're either dominating or getting dominated. There's hardly ever a close game. Shame too cause I was a huge Warhawk fan.

willsoonbegone 57 pts

 SergioMX My thoughts exactly. I was a huge Warhawk fan and was really excited for Starhawk. But it was just so frustrating and unsatisfying to play, I traded it back within a few week.s

SuplexKirby 46 pts

 willsoonbegone  SergioMX It just didn't have that Warhawk feel and you can't even stay in the air with your jetpack more than 10 seconds. How can LightBox screw up so badly after their amazing Warhawk?

warhawk-geeby 404 pts

 SuplexKirby  willsoonbegone  SergioMX Only half of the original Warhawk team actually progressed to make Starhawk.. that's why.  Ingognito games split and Lightbox was formed.

SuplexKirby 46 pts

 warhawk-geeby  willsoonbegone  SergioMX I see, would you like to see Emmett Graves for PSASBR for dlc? A great character design can not go to waste and it could be his last time showing up in a game.

CruiserCaptain 138 pts

 SergioMX

 I totally fell in love wiht this game at first, before many people had it. The multiplayer rounds were fun, but then once the ranks filled out and more people were playing bigger games it did become unbalanced. Once you lost your hold the game was over. I think the last round I played consisted of dropping in to a circle of about 10 tanks and just getting Base-'Ravaged'. Plus the jet's flying over dropping bombs and those huge super bombs... the thing is this happned all the time. I was on both the winning and losing side of this situation... niether are fun after the first few minutes.

The game had GREAT ideas... but once you had your enemy surrounded, the game was over... even if it happened in ther first few minutes. I rarely ever got to engage in a "battle", it was mostly just rape.

awheaten 53 pts

@CruiserCaptain @SergioMX l mean... I agree to a point... First of all... Im a fan boy of this game. This game is really good. Transforming air planes and tanks and motorcycles. This is a gem. There were the issue of balance. Which I am surprised, because that was a huge problem in warhawk. So w/that Im dissapointed. But if you play for kills... And the thrill of battle, you can look past wins and loses.

Vickman178 529 pts

Starhawk is a hell of a lot of fun in my opinion! Sad to see all these layoffs happening lately but iOS games are like 98% total garbage.

 

Its just filled with stunt racing games that are all a bunch of clones of each other, flash games that you can play free on your computer. etc etc...

 

I have had my iPhone 4 for almost 2 years now and I literally never use the app store and the games I did download can barely entertain me for more than 3 minutes. The only thing I have on there now is Temple Run. 

EPaul 290 pts

So sad to see I was a big Warhawk fan played around 300hrs but i still haven't gotten Starhawk yet. The beta  didnt grab me like Warhawk did i still plan on getting it lately this year.

toddx77 627 pts

Never played Warhawk and only played the beta for Starhawk and while it was fun it wasn't something I was going to rush out and buy.  Also the fact it is online only does not help.  

EPaul 290 pts

 toddx77  Starhawk has a single-player campaign

toddx77 627 pts

 EPaul I see.  I stand corrected then.

shadow580 269 pts

 toddx77  Well the single player isn't all that great.

CruiserCaptain 138 pts

 toddx77

 Yeah the single player was like a long tutorial. And to be honest some co-op wound have been fun on the campaign. The game also came with a survival mode, which was called "co-op" but it was lame, overwhelming and rarely felt fun. Plus with only 5 maps for it, the novelty wore off fast.

SolidTy 1195 pts

 toddx77 A lot of people thought it was online only...so strange. :( It had a fun campaign, but yeah, you aren't the only one I heard say this.

irwin88 50 pts

"shift towards making games for iOS devices"?, THEN YOU'RE A FOOL..!!!

Mr_KMG 13 pts

Ouch, I think its a little late to be turning your entire focus to iOS, that bubble has burst. The App store is flooded with games and is a LOT more competitive than the Console market at the moment (look at how many big box retail games have come out in the  past couple months compared to the dozens of "new" games published to the App Store)

ChiefFreeman 233 pts

 Mr_KMG that seems to be the parachute for every failing developer who can't cut it in the console world.    But I doubt Lightbox will be any more successful.

AndCarlsen 220 pts

 Mr_KMG Yeah, leaving a competitive market to try your chances on an even more competitive one doesn't seem like such a smart idea. I wish they just had an iOS division and kept on working on consoles.

ChiefFreeman 233 pts

Starhawk and Warhawk were niche games that just don't have a big enough following to be commercially succesful.    Sorry to hear developers out of work.       

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