Report: Full Auto studio out of gas

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 7, 2008 1:22 pm PT

Pseudo Interactive added to growing list of developer casualties as Toronto-based studio reportedly shuts down.

It's been a rough year for independent developers, as Perpetual Entertainment, Iron Lore Entertainment, Stormfront Studios, and Castaway Entertainment have all gone under or suspended operations since January. Another name appears to belong on that list, as 1Up has reported that Toronto-based Pseudo Interactive has also been forced to close.

With more than a decade of development, Pseudo Interactive created an abundance of automotive anarchy, initially with versions of the vehicular combat game Cel Damage for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. However, the company is best known for its current-generation work, the Xbox 360 combat racer Full Auto and its PlayStation 3 follow-up, Full Auto 2: Battlelines. (The PlayStation Portable version of Battlelines was developed by Vancouver, British Columbia-based Deep Fried Entertainment.)

According to the article, Pseudo Interactive found itself in dire straits and had to lay off much of its 50-person staff after Eidos canned a game the studio had been working on. Presumably it was one of the 14 recently cancelled projects the publisher said were "unlikely to generate an acceptable return on investment or are not of appropriate quality."

Unfortunately, the report doesn't give a source for the leak about Pseudo's closure. A GameSpot e-mail sent to the studio's media contact address bounced, and a company representative has not returned a voicemail request for comment.

47 Comments

  • BrokenXBone

    Posted Aug 27, 2009 9:59 am PT

    Oh yeah 3anks and any other douchebag who thinks full auto sucks Go f ck yourself if you hate the game so much why would you spend your time telling people who love this game that it sucks like what do you get in that? hmm tell me?

  • BrokenXBone

    Posted Aug 27, 2009 9:57 am PT

    It really sucks tho Full auto 2 battlelines was one of my favorites i never understood how nobody even knew about it and why no one was ever online

  • bombfanatic

    Posted Apr 12, 2008 6:33 pm PT

    So sad Full Auto is awesome. so annoyed that the plug was pulled on it. i was waiting for the amazingly fun game. even gamespot was upset

    this will hurt the economy a little bit. 50 people just lost jobs, its unhappy. i feel bad for the ex workers, lets hope they get new jobs

  • king_bobo

    Posted Apr 10, 2008 6:15 am PT

    Shame really... I don't like to see all of these developers go under.

  • nate1222

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 4:53 pm PT

    I hate to be an "I-told-you-so". But this is one of the things I've repeatedly posted about regarding the astronomical development costs. You guys are going to see ALOT MORE of this happening. Mega-publishers and high-priced propietary tech are driving development costs to the point where if you don't sell 3 million copies-you are broke AND in dept! The only console maker remotely TRYING to fix this is Nintendo. The Wii costs 1/4 to 1/3 the cost of PS3&360 to develop for. Tech-heads don't like having to hear that, but it's extremely relevant to keeping gaming from going BUST. note: considering that the PS2 costs as little to develop for as the Wii, Sony might want to continue supporting PS2 for at least another 2-3 years.

  • majidok

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 2:54 pm PT

    So GameSpot is really sad to hear this news , so sad to make a funny-punny headline out of people losing their jobs . Way to go GameSpot !

  • lowkey254

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 1:07 pm PT

    so it seems no one understands that people have lost their jobs huh? I mean this was someones livelihood.

  • 3anks

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 11:05 am PT

    Good. The Full auto games were awful! Such a good idea gone wrong. Maybe someone else can get the racing/car combat thing right.

  • railroberto2007

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 8:19 am PT

    wow so many people happy about people loosing their jobs, must be children who have no idea what its like to need your job to provide for your family

  • tsiper

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 8:06 am PT

    Bummer I really thought full auto had potential it just needed to be opened up alittle. Good luck guys hope you find work quickly!

  • fishnpeas1

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 8:01 am PT

    I feel sad at the loss of another indie, but on the flipside, a bad game is a bad game, people speak with their wallets

  • Lostfile

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 6:47 am PT

    That's too bad. Can't say I found Full Auto to be a golden game but I never like to see developers get canned.

  • ObiKKa

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 3:20 am PT

    XFoogyX
    "it's a game developer apocalypse I tell you.
    In the future, all we'll see are Halo, God of War, Final Fantasy, etc.
    Copied over and over and over with minor additions in the form of downloadable content. I don't see any new developers springing up when the video game economy is already so vulnerable."

    Hey, mate. DON'T WORRY! Just look at the European, Canadian, and Australian developers, and as for the adventure games, those developers are from everywhere outside America from Europe, to South America. Notice the common element? Yes, again, it's the fact that they're situated right outside America, and they're very clever, and manages their finances well, as well as making fun games, and interesting games, basically anything with depth, creative additions, innovations, or whatever.

    Only thing you should really worry about is... EA!
    The GTA franchise, and that oh-so-good Take-Two's publishing subsidiary 2K Games (Bioshock, the good sports games, and so on) are eventually gonna be gobbled up by the evil lord EA! Oh, so sad!!! I can only hope that other teams, or the people that I hope would bail out of Rockstar & 2K Games' developers to make GTA clones, and sports games to compete with EA.

  • ObiKKa

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 3:14 am PT

    I'm sad for Iron Lore Studios. They should have survived on, but THQ has said that if only just a small portion of the pirates who've downloaded their Titan Quest games had paid for them then they'd have been fine, but alas! That is the real price of piracy that many people with good sources of income continue to ignore.

    I'm also kinda sad for Stormfront Studios. I still firmly believe that they should have continued working, coz they were so consistent at making good, straightforward action RPGs.

  • twoism

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 1:48 am PT

    Another one bites the dust... it must be really tough working in the gaming industry.

  • Rhen_Var

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 12:16 am PT

    Full Auto has potential but if the developers plan to give up after just two games then god, close down for all I care.

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Apr 7, 2008 9:20 pm PT

    I feel sorry for all the devs and programmers who are losing their jobs... thats the real sad part. They put months of effort into a project and are left without anything .... it makes me sad.

  • Vash67

    Posted Apr 7, 2008 7:21 pm PT

    I like Full Auto.... I'll miss this studio.

  • Tr3vz

    Posted Apr 7, 2008 6:59 pm PT

    honestly, i think the whole other-platform-sequel fiasco was pointless and they deserve to be closed. oh, and the games sucked a lot

  • HOMIE_G64

    Posted Apr 7, 2008 6:59 pm PT

    XFoogyX, new, great ideas are always coming out. Remember Assassin's Creed for the SNES? No? Because thats a newer title. Anyways, some re-hashes are actually good. Thats why they keep making sequels, because they sell.

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