Hamburger Helper Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 (edited) According to George Broussard, famous game designer best-known for his work on Duke Nukem (and as co-owner of Apogee Software and 3D Realms), Lightbox Interactive, the Austin, Texas-based developer with one game under its belt – Starhawk – has been hit with major layoffs. Broussard Tweeted the following: “Good luck to my buddies at LightBox in Austin. Layoffs and rumors of near whole studio gone by Friday[…]” http://www.ign.com/a...h-major-layoffs Quite sad to see such a small company who poured their heart and soul into this game only to see such small sales and get so little for it. I took my chances with this game and found it to be incredibly fun and surprising (on the MP portion, at least). I always start to feel like I'm getting burnt until I see a hawk fly towards me out of nowhere, land, then to shoot at me for me to only return the favor by blowing it to bits, those are the moments that really bring a smile to my face. Or perhaps running towards your base with the enemy flag, being shot from behind and your buddies returning the favor to them, guys falling down left and right, with more dropping down dominating the opponent. I've never played a game like this before were I felt the urge to keep playing to unlock more for my character, see my stats getting better, etc. While it's certainly not the best game of all time, I do believe it is a very fun game and should at least warrant a rental at the least. Hopefully the servers aren't taken down because that would have been a waste of $19.99... Edited October 17, 2012 by scotty243 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navep9 Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 It brings tears to my eyes to see this. I've been playing this game ever since the beta opened in January. The unique gameplay, the clan system, and the team's almost inspirational attempt to make this game one of the best out there just fills me with awe. Lightbox, Im sorry it had to come to this. You will be missed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatSuit Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 (edited) Ever since 75% of Lightbox was laid off and the rest have moved on to mobile gaming, is Starhawk's multiplayer still being moderated? I heard development and support for it is being taken over by Sony's Santa Monica studio, but I haven't heard anything about the game losing its anti-boosting stance. Edited November 16, 2012 by FatSuit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburger Helper Posted November 16, 2012 Author Share Posted November 16, 2012 Ever since 75% of Lightbox was laid off and the rest have moved on to mobile gaming, is Starhawk's multiplayer still being moderated? I heard development and support for it is being taken over by Sony's Santa Monica studio, but I haven't heard anything about the game losing its anti-boosting stance. Not quite sure on that... But since I've yet to boost in the game and see anyone attempt to, I can't really say much. Try checking another site for that information. I've yet to know anyone here who plays Starhawk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielVT Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Wow.....I played the demo, but did not really get into the game. This truly is sad. It makes no sense how someone can create an immensely solid product, and yet not make any money from it and have to layoff employees. It is a sad world in which creativity and effort does not automatically translate into success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburger Helper Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 Wow.....I played the demo, but did not really get into the game. This truly is sad. It makes no sense how someone can create an immensely solid product, and yet not make any money from it and have to layoff employees. It is a sad world in which creativity and effort does not automatically translate into success. I don't mean to bash COD or anything, but yearly franchises just show how one can just copy from another. It's more of, "If they can do it, why can't we?" type of thing. Actually, perfect example is any sports game, the same game comes out every year with minor changes, other companies start to notice and want to make some of that profit too, then you have a whole market fluctuated with yearly releases, which we currently do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x9zachattack5x Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 That's ridiculous This game is still full of players! It's easier and faster to find games than Uncharted 3 and Uncharted 3 isn't going under? Wow critics nowadays :/. This game is very fun...Especially Zones.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azaan60 Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 It's Sony's fault, if they give a studio a chance to make a a game and the game receives low sales then they ditch the studio and layoff alot of employees. That's what happened to eat,sleep,play with Twisted Metal and to Superbot with PS All-Stars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x9zachattack5x Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 But y the low sales? I don't find the game amazing but I can see why the servers are so popular....Log on and see for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azaan60 Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) But y the low sales? I don't find the game amazing but I can see why the servers are so popular....Log on and see for yourself. It got low sales mostly due to lack of Advertisement, hardly anyone knew about the game at launch Edited March 2, 2014 by Azaan60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverstag88 Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 That's ridiculous This game is still full of players! It's easier and faster to find games than Uncharted 3 and Uncharted 3 isn't going under? Wow critics nowadays :/. This game is very fun...Especially Zones.... This thread is over a year old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Mayus Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) It got low sales mostly due to lack of Advertisement, hardly anyone knew about the game at launch Funny you should say that. Back when I worked for Sony I had several of my EB managers come up to me because they wanted to showcase this game off better (they were huge fans of Warhawk). I told them that Sony Canada wasn't making any POP for it but I will see what I could do. I contacted a fellow Winnipegger (some of you may know Luckay) to possibly create some promotional Star Hawk material for me and my Aunt (who runs a printing shop) said she would do all the printing for about 10 bucks. I then downloaded all the trailers I could find for Star Hawk off of PSN to run on a constant loop on the TV in the middle of the store (the tv was usually left off because no one ever updated it). I presented my plan to my boss (before Luckay did anything) and not only would she not allow me to do it but I got in trouble for even suggesting it. I responded that this was one of our big games of the year and we should be promoting it and I had found a way to do that for less than 20$ and that earned me a phone call with her boss (once again not to discuss my initiative or try to figure out how my plan could work but to get me in trouble). I dropped it at that and realized that this company doesn't want you to think outside of the box. This was the same company that wouldn't let me go to Comic Con during the Move launch to not only man a table but to be a judge in the costume contest. My friend (who runs the WInnipeg comic con) asked me to come and it would have been free of charge (once again 1 month after the Move launched). They said I couldn't go because the events team would be busy in other cities (I of course had planned to run this by myself with other EB staff helping out). They also turned down the chance to be apart of a huge Children's Miracle Network fundraiser that I had created and ran for the past 3 years. In the end Microsoft got to reap all of my hardwork. Their reasoning...they weren't sure about the Charity...CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK...I also gave them 6 months notice so they could have checked into one of the biggest charities around but they couldn't be bothered. Wait a minute what were we talking about...I got off on a little rant about how useless Playstation Canada is Edited March 2, 2014 by Dr_Mayus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x9zachattack5x Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 This thread is over a year old. and??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRANGEgenius Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Sony didn't advertise this game, so the sales were low. That goes for all underrated games, poor advertisement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrabbit1485 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 truth be told, I only got this game because in my trip to Vegas I went into a bestbuy looking for some new game and there were posters everywhere about Starhawk, so I got it. It was May 2012, must be near the release date. But yea...never heard of it before that. Guess I got lucky, because I liked it. ( and now the topic is almost 2 years ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowwindow7 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 whoever you are, before replying and showing your emotion toward lightbox, look at the date of this topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RavenclawHobbit Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I was one of the people who pre-ordered starhawk. And although I did not go through and get the plat, I found the game amazing. Story was solid although short, and multiplayer was and still is very fun. Sad that it took this long for me to notice. Great company, and its terrible that this all happened after such a great title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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