After a whopping 28 years in the game development and publishing business Sony has decided to shut down UK-based SCE Studio Liverpool in an effort to divert resources to other studios working on ‘exciting new projects’. A terrible loss not only to Sega fans but to gamers of all varieties.
Known now-a-days for their slick WipeOut series, SCE Studio Liverpool contributions to Sega game libraries under their former name of Psygnosis included Wiz ‘n’ Liz, Toy Story, Lemmings and my personal favourite, Puggsy. Looking through the list of games and series they have been involved in I’m surprised to see many childhood favourites such as Destruction Derby, Colony Wars, Discworld, G-Police, Overboard!, and the list goes on. I invite you to look through the list yourself and let us know which games you had a blast with in the comments below. Sony’s full statement to Kotaku can be read by hitting the jump.
[Source: Kotaku]
As part of SCE Worldwide Studios, we do regular reviews to ensure that the resources we have can create and produce high quality, innovative and commercially viable projects in an increasingly competitive market place. As part of this process, we have reviewed and assessed all current and planned projects for the short and medium term and have decided to make some changes to our European Studios.
It has been decided that Liverpool Studio should be closed. Liverpool Studio has been an important part of SCE Worldwide Studios since the outset of PlayStation, and have contributed greatly to PlayStation over the years. Everyone connected with Liverpool Studio, past and present, can be very proud of their achievements.
However, it was felt that by focusing our investment plans on other Studios that are currently working on exciting new projects, we would be in a stronger position to offer the best possible content for our consumers.
Our Liverpool Facility will continue to operate, housing a number of other vital WWS!E and SCEE Departments.
This should not take anything away from the great work WWS are doing and the incredible games and services that we have made, and continue to make, both for this coming year and further in the future.
Man, this one’s pretty tough. These guys put out such an eclectic group of games, and most of them really good.
Colony Wars and Wiz n’ Liz are my favorites from these guys’ library. Man I want to play Colony Wars again.
Yay, someone on the site has played Wiz ‘n’ Liz! That is such a fun, and hard game!
What a crying shame… I bought a PSP just to play WipeOut Fusion on it’s release. What a loss for Sony my lord. Really sad goings-on in the industry these days.
DiscWorld 1 and 2 were fantastic games but man… Wipeout? Been in love with it since the first one. I’m heartbroken to see them go. I also enjoyed their other racing titles on PSOne- Destruction Derby as you said and Rollcage as well were awesome and like nothing else on the market. Lesson learned: stick to conformity kids…. sucks.
Not only are a lot of these games real classics, they’re all very diverse as well. I’m still not 100% convinced by Sony’s statements and can’t help but think someone somewhere has just made a horrible mistake that’ll be rectified soon so we can have more WipeOut. 🙁