Collective staff cuts follow Dirty Harry 'transitioning'

Source close to Foundation 9 division claims 30 staffers laid off following abrupt stoppage of work on film license; Warner Bros. asserts development will continue at new studio.

"What, this little thing?"

In the seminal 1970 crime thriller Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood uttered one of his signature lines. "Do you feel lucky?" he asked a wounded bank robber looking down the barrel of his possibly empty .44 magnum revolver. "Well, do ya, punk?"

Today came word that the developer of the Dirty Harry game is feeling very unlucky indeed. This afternoon, GameSpot received word that The Collective, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment, is no longer working on the adaptation of the seminal Warner Bros. film. According to a source close to Foundation 9, approximately 30 Collective staffers were handed pink slips today after the studio was summarily pulled off the project.

Though a Foundation 9 spokesperson declined to comment on Dirty Harry's status, she did say an effort to "optimize" its suite of internal studios had led to staffing changes. "When this optimization leads to job loss at one studio, we make every effort to find a place for displaced employees at another of our studios," said the rep. "Foundation 9 is currently hiring for 40 positions in our studios across North America and is still in a state of growth with more than 30 projects in development."

The aforementioned source also told GameSpot the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment team managing the project had "been dissolved." However, newly installed WBIE senior vice president Samantha Ryan appeared to have a strong hand on the helm, proclaiming that a Dirty Harry game will be released...eventually.

"We are moving forward with the Dirty Harry next generation videogames and will be changing our development plans in keeping with the best interest of the franchise legacy," Ryan said in a statement. "WBIE is dedicated to creating a game that will bring Clint Eastwood's legendary Detective Harry Callahan character to the interactive space with a new story and great gameplay."

Ryan's other job as CEO of WBIE-owned Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R., Condemned) raises the prospect that her studio may take up the reins of Dirty Harry development. A source close to WBIE did confirm that the game is "transitioning" to another shop but did not disclose where the project was going.

47 Comments

  • Hermes33

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 12:20 pm PT

    I hope this game wont be PS3 only... otherwise then I'll have to get one

  • stfolife

    Posted Apr 24, 2007 6:39 pm PT

    wow no 1s seen dirty harry no love for clint eastwood

  • amplizine

    Posted Mar 6, 2007 11:12 am PT

    Never saw the movie? That's insane.
    I'm glad they're rethinking it before getting too far, buy that sure sucks for the laid off people. I foresee other delays in this game's future too--sadly because of a certain person's age. Maybe not though.

  • Yazu13

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 9:50 pm PT

    Never saw the movie, hope it's a good game.

  • Endrance

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 6:20 pm PT

    30 employees... gosh that sucks..

    Well... as long as it comes out sometime in the future. And doesn't suck ass. Yeah, that especially.

  • aluisi

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 2:05 pm PT

    30 people got let go and Foundation 9 isn't helping any of them find another job at any of there studios. This lay off affected not only people working on DH but key people who were developing the other 2 titles they were working on. I doubt that Collective will be around much longer.

  • mars188

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 10:07 am PT

    here we go a movie being made in to a game. i bet it is going to be thrilling. will it be worth a rent from gamefly. i cant just see this game it will take you back to the 80s allright all the way back to the 8bit nintendo will this movie in to video games ever end. i am laughing dirty hairy video game s.o.s.

  • ufopuller

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 8:58 am PT

    Well, that did not "make my day"

  • vanhalendlrband

    Posted Mar 4, 2007 10:42 pm PT

    They must make this game good. Please guys make this game so unbelievably good that its open ended and everything. SOmethign that can last and be added on too with huge world maps of cities and cleaning up justice, we can't have it just cutscenes please, or just release a cutscene movie instead.

  • stonj

    Posted Mar 4, 2007 4:17 am PT

    how desperate are sony shesh this will be soo awful i guarantee ir

  • wwonka666

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 6:40 pm PT

    Wanna see the character the Dirty Harry was based on, go see the best movie so far this year. Zodiac, it was awesome. Here's hoping the Dirty Harry game still gets made cause it will be awesome too.

  • Gunfan9x19

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 4:47 pm PT

    What the hell went on in those studios?

    Anyway, as a fan of the movies, I hope this game turns out to be good.

  • TiRoSu13

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 2:30 pm PT

    I liked the movie, I hope the game is at least decent.

  • Theempire30

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 11:29 am PT

    I cant wait for this game. ^_^ Clint Eastwood=GOD

  • GtheMVP

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 4:57 am PT

    It's good to hear that it's still in the works. Older gamers like myself grew up on the Dirty Harry/Eastwood and Bronson films. I wasn't born for most of them, but the legacy of those films was huge in the late 70's/early 80's. Obviously a lot of gamers around my age (34) will want a piece of this, so it should sell well. I'm sure they're mostly hoping to intoduce these films to the younger generation of violent happy youths :-D

    Some good $$$$$ potential for them, I just hope it is properly developed so we could see some games made around other classic hits of yesteryear!

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 3:59 am PT

    Hope this game wont suck....

  • osxgp

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 9:21 pm PT

    I wonder if this game will be like most games based on movie or TV licenses? It seems when a company gets a license, they spend more on the rights than they do on development. I know having the 007 license (for example) makes money regardless of how good or bad the game is just because it has 007 in the title.

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 2:47 pm PT

    not bad at all

  • Kempatsu_basic

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 2:24 pm PT

    jesus - this game is gonna blow like everyone else. or maybe it'll never coem out like Duke Nukem Forever

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 10:47 am PT

    I hope this game doesn't suck.

  • g_max_

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 9:41 am PT

    Hmm... Oh well. Hopefully whoever winds up with it will do it justice - we know that's what Callahan would demand!

  • crumble114

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 8:25 am PT

    Come on for wii aswell!

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 8:14 am PT

    Whichever... a good Dirty Harry game would be good for everybody, but one can't have high expectations on things like this. Remember that Scarface game? I'll wait on the verdict before I lay my $60 down.

  • -Spock-

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 8:12 am PT

    Damn, I hope the new studio is as skilled as the last. I'm not saying The Collective are as godly as Kojima and his team, but they made some decent games. I've been waiting for this Dirty Harry game for a while now. I'm a big fan of the movies, and I reckon it will translate well to a videogame. Especially since Eastwood himself is doing the voiceover.

  • TTDog

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 3:31 am PT

    Paultiscali; I remember seeing this on more than the occasional 360 movie demo disk as well, no doubt some of the fanboy masses will use this as an excuse to blame Gamespot of further anti-PS3 bias... "You only mentioned the PS3 version when they've delayed the 360 version as well.... Sont pwn, Sony forever" ertc., etc.,

  • Hedfix

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 11:22 pm PT

    Annoying, I rather enjoyed The Collective's take on Buffy and their Wrath Unleashed effort.

  • Paultiscali

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 4:32 pm PT

    wizardps2 if i recall this game is due out on the xbox 360 aswell.

  • wizardps2

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 3:58 pm PT

    Give the development to EA they will do it great!! and make it just for the PS3
    The other punks cant have a nother story buy Harry is going to kick ass on the PS3 But MAKE THE GAME Harry has millions of fans

  • ghsacidman

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 3:23 pm PT

    I hate corporate crap like this. Rich people play with people jobs/lives on a daily basis... ruling with an iron fist... firing... re-hiring... and firing you for no reason other then they feel like it. JOB SECURITY IS A THING OF THE PAST AND IT PISSES ME OFF!!!

  • Proman84

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 3:19 pm PT

    I hope the developers will be more "lucky" with their neext project.

  • rugripper40

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 3:14 pm PT

    dirty harry was awesome back in the day but a video game...dont know...maybe if they added the orangutan...lol

  • Pete5506

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 3:13 pm PT

    o well

  • TrueReligion_

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:55 pm PT

    I thought this game would be good

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:50 pm PT

    Thats too bad. But actually it might have been good because games based off of movies usually never do too well.

  • johndoh4

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:48 pm PT

    I'm not sure they should even bother with this game anymore. Changing developers in the middle of the games development could cause problems.

  • Ryo_Kensen

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:47 pm PT

    This sucks, All I can hope is they can resume it. I really want to play this game.

  • monco59

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:17 pm PT

    This could turn out to be an awesome game with Monolith (one of the best developers of all time IMO) at the helm. Gotta keep praying to those gaming gods...

  • dmastor

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:06 pm PT

    well there goes another PS3 title

  • Beards_Mahoney

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:05 pm PT

    That sucks for The Collective. Though I wasn't that interested in the prospect of a Dirty Harry game to begin with, I felt The Collective could have done it well.

  • Re_ensurer

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:03 pm PT

    I didn't even know about this game.

  • Livewirez

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:03 pm PT

    I hope Monolith productions takes the game on, fear and condemned are exellent games.

  • Livewirez

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:02 pm PT

    First comment yay!

  • scrot_bag

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:00 pm PT

    that's a shame

  • jmartinez1983

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 2:00 pm PT

    Doesn't really matter, odds are this game won't be that great as is common with licensed content. Either that, or it will be fine, but just a generic action game with "Dirty Harry" stamped on it.

  • Tking1293

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 1:55 pm PT

    Oh well, at least it's coming out sometime.

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