A former Capcom employee told GameSpot today that the publisher has closed its US development house Capcom Studio 8, laying off around 20 people in the process.
The studio had recently finished work on Final Fight: Streetwise and "was trying to figure out what to work on next" when the news came, according to GameSpot's source. While Streetwise was critically lambasted upon release, the source said there were no overt indications that the employees' jobs and the studio itself were in jeopardy, "aside from a general, vague feeling of 'things are going poorly.'"
Prior to taking on Streetwise, the studio handled the development of two better-reviewed efforts, the 2002 PlayStation 2 action title Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and its 2004 sequel, Maximo vs. Army of Zin. It seems gamers holding out hope for a third entry in that series can stop carrying the torch. When asked if the layoffs meant the Maximo series was dead and gone, the source said, "Seems like that was already true and is just true moreso now."
A Capcom representative would not confirm or deny the studio's closure, saying only "Capcom does not comment on day-to-day operations."
Maximo was a good series and Final Fights was pretty good for a beat em up. It sucks people don't like old school games anymore.
Does this mean that they won't be selling anymore copies of Maximo Ghosts to Glory? I have the sequel but I don't have the first one. Anyway, I really feel bad that the Maximo franchise MIGHT have to shut down but I guess this is what happens when you make bad games that are rated 3.3 which is called Final Fight: Streetwise. I just don't like the fact that Maximo might never be seen in the future again.
The rights to Street Fighter belong to Capcom USA, so maybe there will be no Street Fighter IV (4). Only remakes and rehashes, it is pretty much over. What do you have to say about that?
It always sucks when people lose their jobs.
Final Fight: Streetwise wasn't even Final Fight. It was nothing but a toned down GTA with even more swearing!
I agree with skyvader. And when they make 2D games, they should stop being lazy and not do mirror images! It is 2006! Mirror images were played out in the 1980s. Game companies can do MUCH better than that!
No more Maximo? That's terrible!
Maximo was good it would have been better if the camera controlled better and it was very hard but the game was fun, im soon going to play the 2nd game just pick it up at a toys r us clearence for 10 bucks. I hope they make more.
studio 8 didnt make re4 that studio 4 but this really sucks
what the hell !!! capcom studio 8 made resident evil 4 !!!! goodness!
If Capcom made Resident Evil: Outbreak better, preferably headset compatibility, I feel there wouldn't be any problems with the company. I feel bad for the people that worked at Capcom Studio 8, but someone there should of been kicked in the gonads for making final fight. I loved the coin-op for the arcades but I never played the console version. I had a feeling that it sucked. The graphics were horrible, and watching the gameplay footage here on Gamespot, it seemed that the gameplay wasn't there either. It just turned me off. Hopefully the company will get there situation straightened out.
Sure not,, Can't believe that!!
Phiuu... Almost thought that CAPCOM will be shuted down. I almost got a heart attack.
That sucks for the peeps to work there, but bringing Final Fight back was a bad decision.
Dang, and I liked Maximo vs AoZ
capcom now can save money to make better games.
capcom now can save money to make better games.
hmm i like final fight serise but a carp 3d urban one no al pass even giveing it a look. i could carless they made no games on any nintendo platforms so bye bye studio8 rest in piece
Well, that really sucks for these employees... Like everybody says.. Maximo was great but Streetwise wasn't good. Ruined a good franchise...
Say it isn't so.
That really sucks for them........the only good games they came up with were the maximo series and that was it......hmmm..oh well......looks like they're going to have to look for another job around.....too bad for them
They didn't do anything for Nintendo platforms, so IDGAS about it.
skyvader, I couldn't agree with you more. It's not just gamers but developers are too enamored with polygons. There was nothing wrong with 2D sprites. I understand the move to polygons but that doesn't mean they should've abandoned 2D altogether. The sad thing here is that the entire fault doesn't rest on Studio 8. You gotta fire the head honcho who decided on taking the Final Fight series into 3D, as well!.... Oh when will naive developers and publishers ever learn? How many crappy 3D Castlevanias must there be before Konami finally realizes that certain franchises just can't cut it in 3D?....
Wow you do one bad game out of three and people want to stone you for it. They brought Ghosts and Goblins to 3d well, I guess they thought they could do the same for Final Fight. O'well it shouldn't be too hard for them to find jobs.
Thats To bad, they should of came up with better ideas, they are capable
I liked Maximo, but everyone knew FF: Streetwise was going to be a dud. I mean, look at the logo and the stupid way they wrote "Streetwise" like it's supposed to be graffiti. LAME. The sooner this whole "urban" theme in video games goes away, the better.
I wonder why?
Are developers affraid to release some 2D goodness? I liked the original final fight and thought a sequal would be great. They should have made it old school though. Ever since the PS1 everything has been moved to 3D. Bring back the 2D quality Capcom was successful for. Or at least tone down all the bad camera angles by not making the entire game into a 3rd person perspective.
Maybe tremo, but they're still people...and Maximo really wasn't that bad
Final Fight was an insult to any fans of the first Final Fight.... I'm happy Studio 8 dead.
maximo was a bad a$$ game
If all they did was get closed down for making Final Fight Street then they got off light. They deserved to be beaten with a stick and given the mother of all wedgies.
don't blame them on their recent game, i always don't know if is true on not.
Yeah the maximo games were great. But they dropped the ball on Final Fight: Streetwise.
Final Fight: Streetwise!!! they deserved to get fired... the maximo games where great though.
Too bad for the developers. Unfortunately, none of the games were especially great.