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Layoffs at one Aliens: Colonial Marines dev

TimeGate Studios confirms layoffs, says all projects in development continue to move forward.

140 Comments

TimeGate Studios, the developer that helped create Aliens: Colonial Marines, today enacted a round of layoffs, company president Adel Chaveleh told Polygon.

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"Today, we had to make the difficult decision to let go of some great game developers. This is never easy, and we're doing all we can to assist those developers affected," Chaveleh said. "TimeGate is preparing, as is the entire industry, for the transition to next-generation consoles and new business models. As part of this reinvention, all projects and strategic initiatives continue to move forward at the studio."

No specific number of layoffs was provided, though sources told Polygon that about 25 staffers were impacted. These sources also indicated that the cuts were a result of a publishing deal going belly up.

TimeGate Studios most recently assisted Gearbox Software with development on the critically blasted Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The game's mostly negative review scores were partially blamed on the nature of the title's shared development (Nerve Software also contributed to the project), as well as Gearbox's reported mismanagement of production.

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Avatar image for Fursnake
Fursnake

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It's about time to shut the gate on this developer...and lock it.

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DarthLod

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This news is not surprising at all.

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Gravity_Slave

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Edited By Gravity_Slave

Gee i wonder why....could it be the crappy licensed game they took forever to put out and had no right to work on in the first place?

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Ledah

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There's no shame when you rip-off your costumers and you show a completely different game like you did back in 2011 E3 with ACM.

5 • 
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Restivus

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@Ledah Presenting a flashy aspect is what costumers do best.

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Uruca

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Shame on Gearbox.

3 • 
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necronomicon_02

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Edited By necronomicon_02

For F*** sake stop this bull****!!! I already sick and tired of this m*****f****** bul***p again. STOP IT!

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TohouAsura

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Edited By TohouAsura

TimeGate gets layoffs, meanwhile Gearbox are counting the dosh from their 2nd succssful Bait-n-Switch scheme.

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, I'm ashamed.

I really feel bad for Aliens lovers.

8 • 
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icekula

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Edited By icekula

So the screw-up is finally coming back around full circle.. 6 years = nine months. Any title you spend 6 years in development on should be "revolutionary" by the time it comes out! I don't care what title your working on or what company you work for.. This is the beginning of the end for everyone who was associated in making the title A:CM and the crimes against its fan base. More over the deception towards the gaming community for describing/showcasing a product that would actually never come to be..

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DARKKNIGHTPRABZ

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@queuing_for_PS4 @DARKKNIGHTPRABZ @Spartan_N7

for him.

not for me.

But who knows.

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The-Neon-Seal

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Edited By The-Neon-Seal

Suprised the entire company hasn't been shut down for crimes against gamerdom (and Aliens) and Gearbox hasn't been sued for heck of a lot of money.

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deactivated-600fca87e42d4

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@The-Neon-Seal You mean Sega.

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IrrationalBeast

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Edited By IrrationalBeast

bad things deserve to happen to people who waste money and lore making bad games.

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DAOWAce

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But.. Section 8 wasn't a bad game..

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BOSTONJOHN32

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Has everyone magically 4got about duke nukem?

If i had an art project BUT i paid someone else to do it and when the test came back it FAILED well who is to blame?

This PR stunt is working like it is designed to, to make the gamers blame/hate Timegate and more importantly attatch Timegates name to this mistake removing gearbox from the picture.

Im sorry but many of us wont be fooled by this.

2 • 
Avatar image for The-Neon-Seal
The-Neon-Seal

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@BOSTONJOHN32 Oh, I blame Gearbox just as much as Timegate.

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LpcWarrior

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Edited By LpcWarrior

@BOSTONJOHN32 You do know Gearbox didn't make Duke Nukem, right?


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Morphine_OD

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Edited By Morphine_OD

@BOSTONJOHN32 yeah, right. According to Timegate anyway.

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CapnXtraObvious

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That is one hot looking Alien on top of the marine in that pic.

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BOSTONJOHN32

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@CapnXtraObvious

Thats susan

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IrrationalBeast

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@BOSTONJOHN32 @CapnXtraObvious she looks like a gentle lover.

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CapnXtraObvious

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@BOSTONJOHN32 @CapnXtraObvious It looks more sexual, rather than scary.

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hellomikie91

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Edited By hellomikie91

Is EA involved? I mean every time I hear about layoff's from gaming developers, the first thing that comes to mind, is EA games.

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BOSTONJOHN32

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@hellomikie91

EA, Capcom and Activi$ion = The Big Three

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felixvarela07

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Edited By felixvarela07

Gearbox outsourced this game because they could care less,all that talk about this game the promo's all to make a fast buck from Alien Universe lovers.Same thing with Duke Nukem.Pritchard is a big mouthed BS machine.

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BOSTONJOHN32

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@felixvarela07

Seems like some of the readers here completely forgot about Duke Nukem.

This PR stunt is working as designed = gamers blame/hate Timegate,lol..

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felixvarela07

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Edited By felixvarela07

@BOSTONJOHN32 @felixvarela07 Timegate is the scape goat Gearbox set them up by the BS footage at E3 and by saying they were treating this game with respect what a joke

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BOSTONJOHN32

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@felixvarela07 @BOSTONJOHN32

Im happy someone can see through the smoke and mirrors, this is one big PR stunt..

Also a few from timegate gave kotaku info which was damaging to gearbox so they needed to clean house anyway because no leaky pipes in the basement.

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psuedospike

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Bad game, stay standing in the corner Gearbox and think about what you've done.

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NightsOwl

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@queuing_for_PS4

Fanboys really should hold their tongues.

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BOSTONJOHN32

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Edited By BOSTONJOHN32

What an obvious PR stunt !!

As to say " We cleaned house, we took care of the problem SEE ?"

Meanwhile the smoke and mirrors wont work on us, using those poor souls as the fall guys ultimately at the expense of their livelyhood / jobs / career.

Just like that = no work, so sad and PATHETIC. These guys/gals were @ the bottom of the totem pole only taking orders from the guys @ the top.

Mr. P and management is to blame and there is nothing they can do, no one they can fire other than themselves which can somewhat resolve the mess they created which came from greed and poor management. Did they forget that many consumers lost good money on this game? Its obviously cheaper to just shite can these workers rather than refund God knows how many people.

This is disgusting and i hope someone from Gearbox reads this to which i will some it up in this one line = I thought about boycotting your games but know i have very little to think about, im all set. I feel bad for the workers @ Timegate, trust me when i say they didnt "fire" anyone in corperate and if they did he/she will be getting "re-assigned" , it wasnt their fault, im certain they were genuinely excitied for this project but they arent miracle workers.. Funny how so many "leaks" have come out the past couple weeks from "Timegate" and now the axe job. Just trying to survive and put food on the table and bamnn looking in the classified section in the paper this morning, so sad.

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magic_jon14

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Talk about games not maturing, how about the Silent Hill series? Granted its not been at its best of late but the themes explored in those titles are pretty extreme and mature. He'd have to really push the boat out to top those.

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MoK86

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ya know i think gamers should be able to sue game developers for false advertising and poor quality. two years ive gone to the Gearbox Community event and i wa s there when they unvield the Aliens colonial marines and last year i paid extra so that i can be up front playing the multiplayer game and after 10mins of gameplay i was slapped in the face with a crappy game. i even asked if this was the final work on the game and they got all huffy puffy and asked why i said that and i told up up front and honest THE GAME SUCKS! and they threw me out. and now the game is out and i got it and the game is as bad if not worst the the beta gaming i did at the event. I think gearbox should be responsible for the loss of jobs for these guys. YOU SUCK GEARBOX

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isabela95808

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Edited By isabela95808

Somewhere somehow there was a communication gap and that cost the franchise a big price. Next time someone puts an aliens in the title, people are going to think twice.


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DanteReal69

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it was dog shit of a game

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Spartan_N7

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Edited By Spartan_N7

I must be one of the few who love Aliens... What a shame. Yeah, its not amazing and I can easily think of 20 different things that I dont like about it. Why do I love the game though? Because I'm a HUGE fan of the Universe, and my love for this series overshadows the games individual faults.

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DARKKNIGHTPRABZ

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@Spartan_N7

but the problem here is the 60 bucks you spent... you coudl of brought a xenomorph action firgure, which has more value. Than giving cash to people who literally could of given you the best game of the year, if they had tried.

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alien33

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Yeah, try some Neca figures or the older snap kit aliens from Hot Toys, those were pretty cool!

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