Sony cuts ties with SuperBot, developer starting 'next chapter'
Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed that it cut ties with SuperBot Entertainment. Future DLC will be in the hands of Sony's Santa Monica studio, and SuperBot says it is "excited about beginning the next chapter."
Sony has officially ended its agreement with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale developer SuperBot Entertainment, putting the future of both the studio and game in question. This comes just a week after the developer was hit with layoffs.
"Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm that the working agreement with developer SuperBot Entertainment has amicably ended," a Sony spokesperson told Kotaku. "We have had a positive working relationship with this talented studio, and wish them the best of success in their next endeavor. PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale and the title's forthcoming DLC releases will continue to be fully supported by Santa Monica Studio."
SuperBot responded in kind with its own statement. "SuperBot Entertainment can confirm that the relationship with SCEA has ended on good terms," it read. "We are extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work on with Sony on PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and are extremely proud of the work we have done. SuperBot Entertainment will continue working on projects that reflect our passion for games and our commitment to creating award winning titles. We are very excited about beginning the next chapter of our future and invite all of our fans and supporters to follow our journey."
Shacknews has reached out to both Sony and SuperBot for further statements, and will update as more information becomes available.
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, Sony cuts ties with SuperBot, developer starting 'next chapter'.
Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed that it cut ties with SuperBot Entertainment. Future DLC will be in the hands of Sony's Santa Monica studio, and SuperBot says it is "excited about beginning the next chapter."-
I guess they really couldn't come up with more than one character
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/04/30 -
They must be on Chapter 10 then.
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So where does this leave Seth Killian? He left Capcom to become "lead game designer" at Sony Santa Monica ( http://www.shacknews.com/article/74624/seth-killian-joins-sony-santa-monica-studio )... but the actual developer was SuperBot, under contract to Sony. Unless Sony Santa Monica takes on DLC and sequel content internally, there's not much reason for Seth to be there, from a fighting game enthusiast standpoint.
I imagine that at some point, Aksys will be announcing BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma for North American release for at least the PS3, since the arcade version was released in Japan late last year. I don't know if that's the scale of what Killian is looking for, but at least there's more fighting game passion there than at Sony. -
Sony should blame themselves for making a smash-lite for an audience that didn't ask for one. No one wanted to play smash brothers with sony characters.
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I did. Too bad they made something that wasn't Smash Bros at all really. I keep hearing people say that as a negative, but frankly, if it played MORE like Smash Bros, it'd be a positive.
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This just seems like a pretty fucked up situation.
Sony brings in Superbot to create a Smash Bros. clone, despite not having the roster of characters to do so, then uses the game as a marketing tool for upcoming games and neglects characters and games heavily associated with the Playstation brand.
In spite of all that, the developer puts out what seems to be a good game (going by reviews, haven't played it myself so can't give an opinion) but it doesn't meet Sony's expectations so they move the DLC development to their own studio and leave Superbot out to hang, possibly causing closure. It seems like a lot of the problems with the title were on Sony's end but the dev is taking the brunt of the repercussions.
Maybe there's more to it behind the scenes but just from what we see, I feel really sorry for the people at Superbot and this looks like a real dick move on Sony's part.
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