Elixir Studios closed

[JayG]

Another PC developer bites the dust;

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58828

Elixir Studios to close

Elixir was founded seven years ago by Demis Hassabis, and has had two published games - political simulation Republic, which was published by Eidos, and last year's well-received strategy title Evil Genius, published by VU Games.

"I'm very proud of what all the staff at Elixir have achieved and the games we produced," Hassabis said in a statement this morning. "We gave it everything we had but ultimately it wasn't quite enough. It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. Perhaps there is no longer any need for them."


Eidios really seems to be the kiss of death. Looking Glass, Ion Storm and now Elixer.

[Jeff Jones]

"We gave it everything we had but ultimately it wasn't quite enough. It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. Perhaps there is no longer any need for them."

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like they could survive, if they relied on a different distribution method. There are plenty of small independent devs doing this. Why not just develop your products, and self publish via the web?

Perhaps their failure has less to do with Eidos, and more to do with only developing 2 games in 7 years.

[baron calamity]

Eidios really seems to be the kiss of death. Looking Glass, Ion Storm and now Elixer.

What about VU? Troika's Vampire was release by VU, also in october like like Evil Genuis, and soon saw the closing of the studio.
hmmm...

[Kraken]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like they could survive, if they relied on a different distribution method. There are plenty of small independent devs doing this. Why not just develop your products, and self publish via the web?

Perhaps their failure has less to do with Eidos, and more to do with only developing 2 games in 7 years.

The hard thing for studios is keeping the lights on between releases. If Vivendi published their last game, Vivendi probably financed its development and certainly kept most of the revenue; they very likely own the IP, too. To be truly independent, a studio needs to develop its first title without publisher financing, keep ownership of its brand and technology, and earn enough on it to repay debt AND develop a second game. And you're right...3.5 years between releases can't cut it. Presumably their games didn't sell well enough to justify expansions (the usual way of milking the cow between real projects) or permit any license deals.

It's always sad to see a would-be indie studio close, and there is some truth in the owner's quote...as well as some sour grapes.

[Peacedog]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like they could survive, if they relied on a different distribution method. There are plenty of small independent devs doing this. Why not just develop your products, and self publish via the web?

That doesn't solve marketing issues. Other things being equal, if you are going to do it online you need to really watch yout costs, as you'll likely not sell near as many games as you would via a marketed B&M campaign. They may not be in a situation where they own what they make, which certainly wouldn't have helped things.

That said, if you approach things sensibly, there's money to be made in this place.

[wankerjr]

Eidios really seems to be the kiss of death. Looking Glass, Ion Storm and now Elixer.

What about VU? Troika's Vampire was release by VU, also in october like like Evil Genuis, and soon saw the closing of the studio.
hmmm...

Troika's Vampire: Bloodlines was actually distributed by Activision.

[YellowKing]

It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. Perhaps there is no longer any need for them."

Or perhaps you should just make games that are actually GOOD. Those are the ones that tend to sell.

Republic - average rating of 66%

Evil Genius - average rating of 76%.

[Sepiche]

Evil Genius wasn't a bad game. I think it had some flaws and needed a little better direction, but it was a unique, solid, fun game.

That said, it wasn't good enough for an indie team to make their reputation on... no where close actually. I was really holding out hope that there would be a sequel to it that would fix some of the fundimental flaws in the game, but alas, it is not to be.

s

[baron calamity]

Troika's Vampire: Bloodlines was actually distributed by Activision.

Oh yeah, guess I need to stop smoking crack before noon...

I found this quote from an interview on Evil Planet very interesting:

3) How did you find working with Vivendi? Has Elixir been happy with the marketing Vivendi gave the game and the subsequent sales figures?

[DH] Initially Vivendi were great partners but then a lot of the people we were working with directly were forced to leave following various internal reshuffles within Vivendi. A final reshuffle just prior to EG's release meant that we didn't really get anywhere the level of support at retail from Vivendi that we had been promised and that EG deserved. This has obviously had a direct impact on sales figures. So overall we have been left very disappointed.

What really sucks is they were working on a game coded "Blue Vault" that was to be an update to Xcom style gaming.
http://www.strategyplanet.com/evilgeniu ... eVault.asp

Also reading on EP forums that Republic Dawn, the sequel to Republic is at another company and is continuing.

[Huw the Poo]

That sucks, I was looking forward to Blue Vault. Reminded me of Syndicate. Republic Dawn sounds promising though. I found Republic to be an ultimately flawed gem, but worth playing at least once just for the magnificent atmosphere.

[razgon]

This is really sad - THIS is the one part of the industry, that, IMO, REALLY is being damaged by piracy.
In the end, all we get are standard games, which can be statistically proven to be cost-effective
*45 procent of gamer will pick up this game based on commercials - that 79 percent will hate it doesnt matter, they bought it*

SUPPORT YOUR FAVORITE INDIE GAME COMPANY!!! Buy 2 copies of each game they make - a full-price and a budget one!!! hehe.

[Zarathud]

I liked the core ideas behind Republic and Evil Genius -- both games were innovative but needed a sequel to work out some design flaws. It's a shame that nobody was willing to keep the team together, but these days it looks like cherry-picking people is the industry norm. I think an industry standard where the developer is only a temporary entity will be more damanging to creativity and innovation than piracy. If you have a team together for long enough, you can explore some interesting design ideas instead of being focused on getting a 50% success rate or closing. Plus, you have the time to design internal tools that cross different games.

[baron calamity]

This is really sad - THIS is the one part of the industry, that, IMO, REALLY is being damaged by piracy.

Naaa... What really happen is the consolidation of publishing into a few companies. Thats what has killed niche games like EG. From Evil Planet forums I read that Evil Genuis sold over 100,000 copies and is still selling. Imaging how many units sold if VU didn't fuck up the marketing and distrubtion?
Anyways, with so few gatekeepers, its hard to get different ideas to market even if they would sell.

[JayG]

I remember reading somewhere that Republic sold over 250,000 copies, which is great for that type of game. I really can't see piracy effecting games like Republic, lets face it, u need a manual.

[Huw the Poo]

I really can't see piracy effecting games like Republic, lets face it, u need a manual.

Ha! Let's be honest here - the manual for Republic was arse, as was the "tutorial". Republic left you to figure a lot of stuff out for yourself.

[Cesare]

Depressing.

I didn't bother with Republic but I really liked Evil Genius. Vivendi is bleeding money out of all it's corporate orifices, so it's not that surprising.

[Victoria Raverna]

So now Demis can try to go back to work with his old boss who seem to know that you can't depend on publisher to promote you game, you have to create the hype yourself.

[moss_icon]

i vaguely recall someone posting some screenshots on here for a game elixir were producing. kind of looked like syndicate wars or something? it looked great.

[baron calamity]

That game was called Blue Vault