Report: State of Emergency 2 developer shuttered

DC Studios ceases operations at Edinburgh development house, 29 staffers "made redundant."

You don't have to read the reviews to know that State of Emergency 2 is bad news; just look at the path of destruction in the game's wake. The sequel was announced in October of 2003 by the original game's developer, VIS Interactive, which was purchased by Bam Entertainment four months later. VIS Interactive filed for bankruptcy in April of 2005.

Shortly after VIS' bankruptcy, Montreal-based DC Studios snagged the project from Bam and assigned it to its Edinburgh, Scotland, development house in May of 2005. Since that time, Bam Entertainment has followed VIS into bankruptcy, according to sources. And while DC Studios managed to release State of Emergency 2 for the PlayStation 2 in February of this year, poor sales have reportedly spurred the company to close the development studio responsible for the game.

Scotland's Sunday Herald is reporting that the studio has been closed and that its 29 staffers have been "made redundant." The paper says it received confirmation of the bad news from DC Studios founder and chief executive Mark Greenshields.

Sales weren't the only disappointing aspect of the game. "We had to pay a lot of money in order to complete the game," Greenshields said. "A lot of things were discovered after the acquisition. But when you buy something out of receivership, it's buyer beware."

The team had been working on two other unannounced projects at the time of the closure, Greenshields told the paper, and he stated that he would like to open up operations in Scotland again soon.

The article does not give an update on the status of the company's PlayStation Portable port of State of Emergency 2. GameSpot's calls to DC Studios' Montreal offices were not returned as of press time.

42 Comments

  • i_love_my_ds

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 6:58 pm PT

    sucks for them.....

  • Cloud2145

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 3:20 pm PT

    I thought they were still working on this, but anyways I thougt SOE 1 was good, but SOE 2 was bad. =

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 11:49 am PT

    stae of emergency is bad

  • OrionMD

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:18 am PT

    maybe it has to do with cursed initials SOE- State of Emergency, Sony Online Entertainment SWG - both turned to crap and only bring pain to gamers and their wallets

  • BruceLee16

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:16 am PT

    AHAHA.

  • BlowOffJerk

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:09 am PT

    I liked the first one but the second looked like it had nothing to do with the first which was all about carrying out missions under the cover of a riot.

    Thanik god I didn't buy this game...

  • Sandman100

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:02 am PT

    State of Emergency 2 was released? I thought they were still working on the thing. Another title to be added to the list of cursed games. Fell sorry for the people who got fired. But SOE: 1 was not that good anyway. It all for the best.

  • gamerino

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 7:32 am PT

    Aw... well, maybe the game was cursed afterall. Like Macbeth or something. It was pretty crappy, but not as bad as some others who do quite well.

  • Rumstocker

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 7:12 am PT

    wow they made state of emergency 2 ... nice move

  • MSE369

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 6:12 am PT

    hahahaha i saw this comin

  • cikame

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 4:27 am PT

    duke nukem forever?
    whats that got to do with this that wasn't even released

  • drangel_jam

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 3:30 am PT

    Now, that is very sad... Anyway, let me check my XBox-Live download.

  • mattbirdy

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 2:38 am PT

    IT SUCKED i work in a GAME shop and we sold like 3 copies since feb and 2 came bk lol how sucky is that

  • mikepanayi

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 1:14 am PT

    this was a cool game!!! i mean beating people to death with body parts was fun!!

  • unreal_master

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 9:59 pm PT

    lol maybe if they tried to make the g ame not suck they could eat real food and not state of emergancy 2 discs =) we gotta dispose of them some how dont we?

  • whosgotthe311

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 8:38 pm PT

    3 words: Duke Nukem Forever

  • Dafdiego777

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 8:31 pm PT

    That's what you get for making bad games.

  • dhmy2kgto

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 8:22 pm PT

    The game is cursed, that's why it call state of emergency, haha

  • thekey

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 7:19 pm PT

    The first one sucked anyway, and the second one they put no effort into it, so what do you expect?

  • Terran499

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:51 pm PT

    Another company bites the bullet

  • Renegade47

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:41 pm PT

    I saw the thing in GAME a couple weeks back. Never even knew it was out. I nearly forgot it existed.

  • Fauij

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:40 pm PT

    never to be a sequel.....................

  • gameloverx

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:24 pm PT

    well it's their fault that they made SOE 2

  • rynmls

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:08 pm PT

    just right for creating bad games...

  • Weeoo_86

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:03 pm PT

    I'm sorry to hear that

  • AA7

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 6:03 pm PT

    State Of Emergency 2 was absolute garbage.

  • alberto2045

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 5:52 pm PT

    is that a game????????

  • redxwarriorxxx

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 5:48 pm PT

    Let this be a lesson to all that you get what you give. Crap = crap

  • FelixAndrews

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 5:31 pm PT

    VIDEOGAMES: SERIOUS BUSINESS

  • TraiklinX3

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 5:08 pm PT

    the sad thing is, those two other games might actually of been really good.

    It's to bad they had to release SOE2, Maybe if it was released a few years back it might of done alittle better but from what I played it seemed like it was trapped back in 2002/3 in terms of graphics and gameplay.

    Atleast they were told the studio was closing and didn't show up for work today only to be told "get your **** and get the **** out!" like so many seem to be.

  • gogeta85

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 5:05 pm PT

    the first game was not good how was this one gonna be any better lol

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:57 pm PT

    oh man. i played the first one and to make a sequel is just crazy.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:41 pm PT

    The highs and lows.

  • Fallout_red

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:36 pm PT

    SOE 2 had nothing to do with original except some characters. No free-raoming and no real chaos. Less violence... At least they could have followed the 1st one.

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:34 pm PT

    That's too bad for the guys that were working on the game; so they got fired. That's what happened when they don't do the right job.

  • jasonmacrillo

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:34 pm PT

    state of emergency 2 was never ment to be

  • pearcer

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:28 pm PT

    State of Emergency 2 IS CURSED I say, the day my friend got it his t.v went up the spout lol.

  • Stephen361984

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:24 pm PT

    Another title to be added to the list of cursed games

  • ketsuatama

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:11 pm PT

    Make lousy games, you lose money then you lose your job - simple commercial economics.

  • Dagoth666

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:09 pm PT

    State of Emergency 2 was released? I thought they were still working on the thing.

  • xx_patRIOT_xx

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:03 pm PT

    the disease called State of Emergency 2 takes another bunch of souls....

    to DAVEY JONES LOCKER!

  • technixps3

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 4:02 pm PT

    Oh well...what can we do?

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