Climax tweaks operations

  • By Curt Feldman, GameSpot
  • Posted Oct 19, 2006 4:55 pm PT

Company details staff cuts in Santa Monica; says it will move more development to remaining UK studios.

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Last month the seldom-volatile Climax made headlines when it sold one of its four studios to the Disney Company's game division, Buena Vista Games. Today, Climax reps confirmed that additional changes were happening at the UK-based development studio.

Topping the list of changes was a confirmation that there had been a reduction in headcount at Climax's Santa Monica studio. Fourteen staffers at the location have been laid off, according to Climax reps. As well, the US studio will lose a bit of independence as it transitions to answering directly to Climax head of development UK-based Simon Gardner rather than reporting to an on-site studio head.

"All three studios will be integrated into a single management structure," the rep told GameSpot. The West Coast operation has been without a studio head for one month now.

Commenting on the changes, Climax CEO and founder Karl Jeffrey said, "New-gen game development requires incredible focus and the removal of all barriers to your teams [in the areas of] creating and communicating effectively. Integrating our management structure in this [new] way and doing more of our development in the UK will allow us to control the production process better."

Part of that reallocation of workload will include adding to UK staff--Jeffrey is planning to hire an additional 70 developers over the next 12 months in both the London and Hampshire locations. "The sale of our Brighton studio has provided the capital needed to become a real player in new-gen and original game development," Jeffrey said in a statement.

Company reps said that the remaining staffers in Santa Monica are working on two remaining games, with a third in concept development. The properties are said to have roots in Hollywood intellectual property, but no further details were revealed.

The company's marquee titles currently in development include a PSP version of Oblivion and Ghost Rider for multiple platforms.

18 Comments

  • phatsy

    Posted Aug 20, 2008 7:11 am PT

    ds might be better since you could malke more butttons on touch screen

  • hoyholyhoy

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 10:00 am PT

    I sorta agree with TenP, with the console versions. The PC version is all around the best, but i really do want to be able to play one of my favorite games anywhere I want. Only time will tell.

  • TenP

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 11:19 pm PT

    @ Iman013

    Yes it will, but the console versions are completely terrible compared to the PC version. Interesting Idea though, but it'll probably be a flop.

  • minoumaster

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 7:07 pm PT

    is travel gona be in 2d ? 3d is realy best

  • lman013

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 3:21 pm PT

    i think it will be terrible, and completely terrible compared to console verisions. oblivion wont really be oblivion on a handheld.

  • jakjbt

    Posted Aug 23, 2007 7:11 am PT

    cold oblivion really fit into a psp disc?

  • crispichikon

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 11:43 am PT

    psp oblivion would be awesome
    ive beat oblivion like a hundred times and it never gets old
    a portable version of my favorite game!

  • Romayo83

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 6:11 pm PT

    is this game even coming out?!?! something tells me its going tobe thrown out the window. dammit one good game PSP could use. though controls on this platform will be interesting to see how they pull it off.

  • deralict

    Posted Jul 9, 2007 10:31 am PT

    I would love to see new content on the psp. If they keep the basic storyline and write mostly new quests, I could see a lot of people buying it again (er, like me).

  • sunnystarz

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 5:43 pm PT

    is there a screen shot ever?

  • theshoveller

    Posted Oct 20, 2006 9:17 am PT

    I'm still waiting for an update of Landstalker and an English version of Lady Stalker (which looks good, but if onyl I knew Japanese...)

  • Pastehunter

    Posted Oct 20, 2006 2:24 am PT

    Interesting , who knows , something good could happen .

  • TryMe01

    Posted Oct 19, 2006 8:28 pm PT

    this could either be a good thing for gamers or and over saturation of the same old thing on every platform. What ever happens, we'll have to see

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Oct 19, 2006 8:15 pm PT

    psp oblivion...i guess that could work

  • Ravidrath

    Posted Oct 19, 2006 7:21 pm PT

    This isn't the whole story - expect updates.

  • protoroll

    Posted Oct 19, 2006 5:45 pm PT

    I didn't know they were doing the psp version of oblivion.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Oct 19, 2006 5:14 pm PT

    Battening down the hatches, at last a UK PC company that can see the future....And lead, rather than follow the Americans and the Japanese.

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