Tony Hawk: Shred Hits the Pavement Hard in First Week; EA's MMA and DJ Hero 2 Sales Start Slow

November 17, 2010 1:30 PM

Last month, Tony Hawk: Shread developer Robomodo was hit with a wave of layoffs, reportedly letting go up to 60 employees. In the same fell swoop, it was revealed that Activision's eleven-year-old franchise would no longer be helmed by the slimmer team at Robomodo.

Today, Tony Hawk news isn't getting any less grim as investment firm Cowen and Company--speaking with GamesIndustry.biz--revealed that Tony Hawk: Shred sold 3,000 copies in the United States within its first week of availability.

The firm also noted that DJ Hero 2 and EA Sports MMA have gotten off to slow starts, pushing 59,000 and 45,000 units, respectively, out the door.

According to Cowan and Company, the low 6 percent in software growth for the month of October was largely due to slowed sales of previous highlights, specifically Halo: Reach and EA's NHL 11.

In the September NPD release, NHL 11 was fourth on the Top Ten combined-platform sales list, but failed to appear on the list in October. Microsoft announced that Halo: Reach sold 315K units in October, whereas the title sold 3.3 million units in its first month of sale.

Robomodo is a privately-owned, Chicago-based studio. It was formed by former employees of EA's (now defunct) Chicago studio in 2008.

Yesterday, Activision revealed it was "exploring [its] options regarding the future" of Bizarre Creations and did not rule out a potential sale. At the same time, the company confirmed it had closed Iowa-based Budcat Creations and announced it was "implementing a targeted reduction in jobs in [its] Quality Assurance team."

Xav de Matos

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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Fhaze

 reply
November 17, 2010 1:57 PM

Too bad about Robomodo and Tony Hawk. I think that if they ditched the plastic skateboard controller and created something like Tony Hawk 2,3 or 4 with killer graphics, updated sound track and more secrets and locations the cash would have flowed.
- Johnnsen
  
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  November 17, 2010 2:50 PM
  
  I even liked Tony Hawks Underground, but then it got dumb. I don't know how they seemingly not noticed.
- Moog69
  
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  November 17, 2010 3:25 PM
  
  I think if they itched Tony Hawk IP they would have been better off - there was no blood left in that stone.
  - the archvile
    
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    November 17, 2010 4:12 PM
    
    Activision inked a 13-year deal with Tony Hawk back in 2002: http://ps2.ign.com/articles/365/365641p1.html
    
    They seem to be very determined to continue with the franchise; it makes me wonder if Activision breaking the contract with Tony Hawk would be more expensive for Activision than continuing to slog it out with short-development-cycle sequels.
- sphinx
  
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  November 17, 2010 9:29 PM
  
  Robomodo isn't in a position to choose if they use the board or not.
  - Fhaze
    
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    November 17, 2010 9:55 PM
    
    I know they couldn't do anything about it, it is just sad they probably had no choice and had to follow down a road that was doomed from the start.