Codemasters shutting down Bodycount developer

[jkipp82]

2649
Codemasters is preparing to close down its Guildford studio, which was responsible for Bodycount (http://joystiq.com/game/bodycount).
The shuttering will affect the 66 employees, who were informed today about the 30-day consultation shut-down period (based on the studio's size), required by UK law.

"As we look to take greater leadership in the racing category, Codemasters is proposing a studio structure that adds resource and strengthens our best-in-class racing teams," a company spokesperson said in a statement. Those being laid off are being "encouraged" to apply for positions at Codemasters' Warwickshire HQ (Dirt, Grid, F1 Online) and the Birmingham studio, which is working on a new racing IP.

Bodycount's "poor design choices and lack of any compelling moments (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/02/bodycount-review/)" didn't sit well with us, nor with critics in general, and earned it a Metacritic score in the low-50s. The game premiered in 36th place on the UK charts two weeks ago (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/05/deus-ex-maintains-uk-top-spot-driver-races-into-second/), then disappeared. It's a IP that's not likely to be heard from again.

[havenplaya]

have you guys seen this game in action?

I cant believe it got published!! lol

check out this accurate review of the game...sad, so sad really :(

http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/09/sage-reviews-bodycount/

[HiTMaN II]

I got this from gamefly on Tuesday. Played it for about 3 hours and could not stand it anymore. Guess I should've paid more attention to the reviews.

[John718]

Regardless of how bad the game can be, it's always sad that all those people are losing their jobs because of someone's poor choices on gameplay and overall design....at the end of the days these people are just like anyone of us....they need jobs to sustain their families.

[Detnom]

Haha, wow. I could tell this game was trash from the demo, not surprising to hear they're being canned. I do feel bad for them though. The game was just absolutely nothing special.

[longy999]

Played through the first mission and hated it, the whole thing just felt cheap and awkward. With so many good FPS games out there at the mo this one never really stood a chance.

John is right though, it does kinda suck for the people who will be out of work now because of it.

[bigtimer5]

Damn. They'll probably be fine. They individually have the to be picked up by other studios.

[Krauser]

Bah ! I knew it from the start when they called it "Bodycount" thats gonna be another bland, poor, un-inspired first person shooter with no potential ... I think companies dried out FPS Genre of games, now they are doing it with Fighting games, released a HUGE AMOUNT of them, lets start: BlazBlue, Arcana Heart 3, King of Fighters XIII, SSF4 AE, MvC3, UMvC3, Soul Calibur V, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Street fighter x Tekken, Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi, Naruto blah-blah-something, Supremacy MMA, WWE 12 (oh god, after buying and playing 4 copies of each previous years im losing my faith in franchise, its like im buying same **** every f***** year for 50 bucks, and all of i get new is Road to Wrestlemania as new characters n slightly better/worse graphics... im sorry for this rant)... and the list goes on...

P.S. I WAS WRONG !!! yes, there is a tons of fighting games, but each focuses on their universe (Martial Arts, Magic, Mix, Weapon Based and etc) so im sorry

P.S.S. Bodycount is a trash, so dont buy this game, and im no surprised that developer has been shut down

[Swiftus]

Bodycount = Black 2? My arse it does! Sad to see all those job losses but at the end of the day the devs shouldn't big up a game that's a massive steaming pile of shite!

[laurading]

Wow, it seems a wonderful game by looking at the pictures.

Edit: PureISO

[miyakuroyama]

it is not a game that is a candidate for best game of the year but not so bad but it's sad it's all over in this way

[EpicGlitch]

I could not even complete the demo, sounds fun on paper but its not

[Insane JIC]

Tried the demo earlier today, HORRIBLE game!

[Countryboy]

Its not that bad yall need to have less of a high performance expectancy for ur games and yull probably enjoy them more...

[zII M V P IIz]

Its not that bad yall need to have less of a high performance expectancy for ur games and yull probably enjoy them more...

I think we all could have seen it coming. Body Count was no where near to competing with some of the Next Gen games around. This game would have been fun in the PS2 era, but now, it's pretty much over shadowed by the CoD Franchise. If you're going to make a FPS, you need something spectacular to win people over, or be a franchise that has a strong fan base and has had for years. Other than that, we are in the CoD Fanboy era, so any FPS made will get instantly over shadowed by CoD.

[tmoney153]

I'm not surprised, this game was HORRIBLE, I feel sorry for anyone who paid full retail price for this game

[Gin]

The game sucked very hard, so we wont miss this game studio.

[Ravanofdarkness]

This should teach them to stand up for themselfs and start creating Games that have something unique that's good and fun. Unlike that pile of trash Aiming System and boring characters.