Rumor: United Front Games (Sleeping Dogs, ModNation Racers) shutting down
30 replies, posted
[url]http://press-start.com.au/news/2016/10/18/sleeping-dogs-developer-rumoured-no/[/url]
[quote]The gaming industry is a harsh mistress indeed, with news coming out today that United Front Games, developers of games such as ModNation Racers and Sleeping Dogs, may have closed its doors.
NeoGAF users noted that United Front’s latest title, Smash & Grab, can no longer be purchased from Steam. Currently in Early Access and off the back of a free trial weekend, the game had received mixed to negative reviews from players.
United Front Games had also collaborated with other studios in the past, working on such games as Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and had worked with Media Molecule to make LittleBigPlanet Karting.[/quote]
NOOOOOOOOO
So much for Sleeping Dogs 2.
I find the practice of citing reddit and neogaf as news sources to be somewhat entertaining and concerning at the same time.
Sleeping dogs in and of itself was a fairly good game, and its potential sales suffered a lot when they lost the true crime branding. By itself it was a pretty fun experience and was worth my buy for sure.
I loved ModNation Racers.
I found Sleeping Dogs to be a lot more fun than gta, it had a charm to it.
So they put Smash + Grab on sale this past weekend, and now they're shutting it down?
Dang, that sucks. Sleeping Dogs was (IMO) a better crime-sandbox game than GTA, sad to see that the developers couldn't stay afloat.
[QUOTE=Cow Muffins;51219112]So they put Smash + Grab on sale this past weekend, and now they're shutting it down?[/QUOTE]
I think they expected a lot more people to jump on that game, and when it didn't they had no way of funding it past that. You can't even buy it anymore, it was taken off steam- what a way to go
Sad, I liked Sleeping Dogs a lot.
sad, I was expecting some crowdfund for SD2
Smash + Grab is a little niche, and the MMO spinoff of Sleeping Dogs (Unfortunately) got cancelled after the beta. They've had a few too big failures recently, I can understand the closing. But it also eliminates the sole reason I had to do a semester at my school's Hong Kong campus, the Game Design program works with them there.
[QUOTE=Magikoopa24;51219194]I think they expected a lot more people to jump on that game, and when it didn't they had no way of funding it past that. [B]You can't even buy it anymore, it was taken off steam[/B]- what a way to go
Sad, I liked Sleeping Dogs a lot.[/QUOTE]
That's not really the case at all.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GGoN8J4.png?1[/IMG]
They only took off the old version, you can still buy the game in question.
I guess we'll just have to let Sleeping Dogs lie.
I need to play Sleeping Dogs. I've dug out my copy of Modnation Racers and just played a few AI races and forgot how aggressive those fuckers could be.
[QUOTE=Xamad;51219503]That's not really the case at all.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GGoN8J4.png?1[/IMG]
They only took off the old version, you can still buy the game in question.[/QUOTE]
I think he means Smash + Grab, not Sleeping Dogs.
Sleeping Dogs is such a rare type of game. It felt like a long Hong Kong crime drama. That game is one of the main reasons I want to visit Hong Kong.
are you fucking kidding me
i was literally going to buy SMASH+GRAB today because it was fun
[QUOTE=TalonAran;51219594]I think he means Smash + Grab, not Sleeping Dogs.[/QUOTE]
My mistake, I think you're right about that
[editline]18th October 2016[/editline]
The page for it is still on Steam, but there's no download link, so I don't know what to think anymore
[QUOTE=Xamad;51219697]My mistake, I think you're right about that
[editline]18th October 2016[/editline]
The page for it is still on Steam, but there's no download link, so I don't know what to think anymore[/QUOTE]
[MEDIA]https://twitter.com/Scarlettjen/status/788195778602774529[/media]
Holy fuck. My mentor used to work at UFG and quit like a month ago to work on his own game.
There's also students who used to go to my school currently who are now out of a job. Jeeez this sure sucks.
man this fucking sucks
sleeping dogs is my favorite open world game, they really don't deserve that fate
And here I was hoping that one day they'd revive LittleBigPlanet Karting.
[QUOTE=Cow Muffins;51219112]So they put Smash + Grab on sale this past weekend, and now they're shutting it down?[/QUOTE]
I know a few people that worked there. They lost the Disney money and doubled down on Smash & Grab. Everyone on the floor tried to tell the wombles that "no this is not a killer app, this will not blow the doors open" but they didn't listen and instead of laying off people or whatever they just put everyone on the game to get it out as fast as possible and bled the coffers dry
[QUOTE=Trilby Harlow;51224546]I know a few people that worked there. They lost the Disney money and doubled down on Smash & Grab. Everyone on the floor tried to tell the wombles that "no this is not a killer app, this will not blow the doors open" but they didn't listen and instead of laying off people or whatever they just put everyone on the game to get it out as fast as possible and bled the coffers dry[/QUOTE]
Sounds like a company I used to work for. Sure, let's throw half the company onto a project that isn't paying a dime even though the owner claims he's rich enough to buy and sell Senators. And then try to force out "overpaid" developers (making about 10% less than regional competitive salaries and about 70% less than what we'd make on the West Coast) instead of axing the project manager who just sits on his ass fiddling with Microsoft Project for five hours a day, and drinks for the last three.
Hopefully someone good can pick up the rights.
Damn shame. While I did not enjoy Sleeping Dogs more than GTA, I don't think they're that comparable in the first place. It definitely had a unique charm to it that not many games have, and it made me realize just how unique an open world GTA-style game can be just by not setting it in god damn america and have it be somewhere kind of exotic instead.
Modnation Racers was something else. I spent hours upon hours in that game. One of those things that was so fun that you wished there was more to and had certain things improved upon. Hope the IP gets saved somehow because it was fantastic. And LittleBigPlanet Karting doesn't count.
Whoa.. I used to work a juice/sandwich place across the street and they used to order catering for lunch at least once or twice a week. Their office was incredible, with arcade machines and and bean bag chairs, it seemed like a really cool place. I remember talking to one guy who said he used to work at EA but preferred working for smaller game companies because the teams are more intimate. super sad they're closing
[QUOTE=*Freezorg*;51224766]Damn shame. While I did not enjoy Sleeping Dogs more than GTA, I don't think they're that comparable in the first place. It definitely had a unique charm to it that not many games have, and it made me realize just how unique an open world GTA-style game can be just by not setting it in god damn america and have it be somewhere kind of exotic instead.[/QUOTE]
Eh, I think there's more to it than just not setting it in America. The game mechanics, story, and point of the game were so different from GTA that I'm not even going to say it's GTA-style.
As a game dev it seems so brutal that one mismanaged project can mean the end of a studio. So brutal.
[QUOTE=Duskin;51219110]I found Sleeping Dogs to be a lot more fun than gta, it had a charm to it.[/QUOTE]
Got Sleeping Dogs, FC3 and Hitman for free with my video card, and SD was the one I was least interested in, but ended up being the only one I really liked.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.